Did you know it takes over 200 years (73,000 days) for a single-use plastic straw to decompose? Plastic Straws should be banned because they are polluting our Earth.

Plastic Straws are NOT biodegradable and have many negative effects on the environment. Plastic Straws break down into smaller particles and release chemicals into our soil, air, and water. This harms people, animals, plants, and the environment.

 This single-use plastic is used once and then thrown in the trash. If it makes it to the recycling center (highly unlikely) it will still end up in the landfill for hundreds of years.

Plastic straws are not recyclable as they are too small and often jam machines at the recycling plant. They are often sifted out and end up as trash. The plastic straw then ends up in our oceans and waterways. Plastic straws pollute our oceans and accumulate with other plastic waste in the Great Garbage Patch. In the ocean, it is often ingested by marine animals. Each year, 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine animals are harmed and die from ingesting plastic. Plastic debris called microplastics ends up in our fish. We are eating plastic! Did you know that 33% of the fish we eat contains microplastics? This cycle will keep repeating and growing until we make a change.

Solutions- Ban Them (just don't use them and keep them out of the landfill) Reusable Straws-Bamboo, Metal, Glass

Alternatives instead - if needed, paper straws that can be recycled  *Straws out of pasta (used as coffee stirrers) 

Let's ban plastic straws in New York State. We did it with plastic bags, now let's take another step and do this with plastic straws!

Global warming is real! Reduce your carbon footprint and let's do our part to help our Earth! We can do this! Make this change for your future and for future generations to come...Small Steps Lead to BIG changes!