The Zaza Candy Store - I have decided to start a petition to encourage the product development department of Zaza Candy Store Inc. / Oppenheimer USA to find another material to take the place of the plastic straws used for their lollipops.

Please stop using plastic sticks for your lollipops. Please consider using another type of material such as one that biodegrades to fix your lollipops to. Small pieces of plastic such as the ones used for your lollipops pose an increased risk to marine life all around the world. Plastic never completely goes away, it only breaks down into very small microscopic pieces which could very likely be ingested by many different types of marine life and other forms of life such as birds and other animals. In a recent study, it found that fish bought at a market in California had levels of plastic microfibers present in their guts.

As found on Center for Biological Diversity's website; "Unfortunately, plastic is so durable that the EPA reports “every bit of plastic ever made still exists.” All five of the Earth's major ocean gyres are inundated with plastic pollution. The largest one has been dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch." The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest accumulation of plastic on our planet. Consumers are the cause of it.

The material used for your lollipop's not only litter's our sea side and our beaches, it is also highly threatening to our sea life. Some sea life which this material poses a threat to include sea turtles, sea horses, sea birds, fish, and the like. This material simply will not go away on it's own. As months and years go by; as mentioned above, this material only breaks down into smaller, microscopic pieces which marine life can mistakenly ingest. As a result precious marine life can also become entangled in and become injured by this foreign material. Companies such as yours, need to be proactive and change the materials they use as part of their product line. We all need to work together to protect our number one priority which is our planet. We all need to do a better job, however as one of many large companies, you need to take a stand and make a positive difference by changing the material you use to a more environmentally friendly one. Many companies are opting to use biodegradable and sustainable materials which not only decompose quickly, however, they are also not harmful to our environment.