The ban on plastic straw by Starbucks will not save the ocean. But we still need these bans.

Recently, when I ordered a milkshake at a New York City restaurant, I noticed a sign at my table saying, "Is something missing in your drink?" There is a reason for this.

I looked around and found that no drinks on the server trays contained plastic straw. Why did my dinner impose the end of this age-old tradition?

Plastic bans are now in vogue. In the name of combating plastic pollution of the oceans, several countries have begun to ban various plastic products: utensils, bottles and bags that are often discarded after use. In early October, the European Parliament voted to ban single-use plastics, including plastic cutlery and straw, by 2021, the BBC reports.

In the United States, these efforts have focused on plastic straw.

On July 26, the Walt Disney Company announced that it would eliminate single-use plastic straws and agitators in all of its sites by mid-2019, as part of its "Stewardship Approach." l & # 39; environment. " Disney is also considering reducing the amount of other plastic products in its hotels. and cruise ships as well as plastic shopping bags and polystyrene cups.

Starbucks made a similar announcement, stating that it would switch to a new lid for cold drinks that many likened to an "adult goblet", which ultimately means the elimination of more than a billion plastic straws a year.

On July 1, Seattle, headquarters of the mega-coffee company, became the first major American city banned by plastic straw. New York City has proposed a bill to ban plastic straws in the city by 2020. Similar efforts are underway in the cities of Malibu and San Luis Obispo, California, and Miami Beach and Fort Myers, Florida.

A trendy hashtag, #StopSucking. Chelsea Clinton, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Russel CroweTom Brady Sonam Kapoorand Tom Felton are all committed to "saying no" when given a plastic straw.

Lonely Whale / YouTube

Why is the ban on plastic straw – something as small and forgettable as it tends to not be recycled – has become viral as a form of consumer environmentalism?

Straws are far from our biggest problem in marine pollution by plastics. And they are necessary for people with certain disabilities, who feel they are being left behind. But activists hope the straws will be an "entrance plastic", encouraging people to give up other single-use plastics such as bags and bottles.

Straw bans are not going to save the ocean, but they could revive much-needed conversations about the level of non-biodegradable waste it contains.

Let's go through what we know.

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Why is plastic such a big problem in the ocean?

We started using plastic at the end of the 19th century, after the invention of celluloid. In the 1960s and 1970s, disposable plastics such as bags and straws became cheaper, more convenient and more ubiquitous than their paper counterparts.

Plastic straws are now found almost everywhere food is served (with the exception of upscale restaurants). And although the exact number of straws thrown in the United States today is unclear, an estimate we found (using Technomics data) estimates 175 million straws each day.

The plastic is not biodegradable, which means that it does not break down into compounds (such as carbon dioxide or water) that can be easily reused.

Large plastics degrade over time into small particles called microplastics. Microplastics are not only potentially carcinogenic, but they also attract harmful pollutants. And they stay forever.

Zachary Crockett / Vox

Because plastic does not decompose quickly, when it becomes waste, it tends to end up in landfills or throw itself into the ocean. The World Economic Forum says that there are 150 million tons of plastics in the ocean. And if we continue this trend, scientists predict that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.

One of the landmark studies on ocean plastic has been published in Science in 2015. The researchers found that we had generated 275 million tonnes of plastic waste in one year, of which 4.8 million to 12.7 million tonnes were entering the oceans.

"Eight million tons of plastic equivalent to 5 bags … filled with plastic entering the ocean along the world's coasts," said lead author Jenna Jambeck of the study. An American association for the progress of science. panel in 2015. "It's huge."

(Around this time, a YouTube video showing a sea turtle with a straw lodged in his nose also went viral, recording more than 26 million views.)

Plastic kills marine life partly by strangulation or choking. But the main reason why plastic is so dangerous is that it releases toxic chemicals like Bisphenol-A (BPA) when it breaks down. BPA, which mimics estrogen, disrupts our hormones and can be carcinogenic. A recent study has shown that plastics also kill coral reefs by making them more vulnerable to disease.

Bruce Bennett / Getty Images

Microplastics will inevitably enter our food – both by the fish in our plates and by the water in our bottles. But researchers still do not know how toxic microplastics are when we consume them in this way.

Much of this plastic accumulates in "garbage piles" that form when garbage and debris congregate under the effect of circular ocean currents called gyres. These patches are not solid masses; rather they consist mainly of microplastics that make the water cloudy and gelatinous. About twice the size of Texas, the largest group of garbage is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which bears the horrible nickname of the Pacific Trash Vortex.

However, garbage areas only give an overview of the problem at the surface – literally. Only about 1% of plastic waste is collected on the surface; most aggregates are found at the bottom of the ocean, where deep water sediments behave as a sink for microplastics.

Why is everyone focused on straw?

Recently, a number of environmental organizations have made straw bans a priority: to raise awareness, to encourage celebrities to get involved, to put pressure on cities and states to adopt them. But some advocates have said that their deep motivation was to strengthen support and awareness of the need to ban plastic products that are more important plastic solution sources than straws.

"Our straw campaign is not really a straw business," said Dune Ives, executive director of Lonely Whale, the organization that led the movement for a ban on straw in Seattle. "It's about showing how disposable plastics are prevalent in our lives, to put ourselves in a mirror to hold us accountable. We all slept at the wheel. "

Lonely Whale's "Strawless in Seattle" movement began in September 2017, when the organization began partnering with Seattle-based companies to end straw use.

Sean Gallup / Getty Images

According to Ives, plastic straw was really the first step in asking people more important questions about their use of plastic. In discussions with restaurateurs, they learned that one of their biggest sources of plastic is the individual packaging of crustaceans and oysters. "They all asked," Why this? "That's a very good question," Ives said. "So straw becomes this bridge conversation that lets you realize how ubiquitous and ubiquitous the problem is."

The Mayor of Seattle has since announced the ban on straws, spoons, forks and disposable plastic knives, which will officially come into effect July 1. From now on, the ban will only apply to restaurants; those who commit an offense are liable to a fine of up to $ 250.

But the success of Seattle has already inspired many other coastal cities of states like California and Florida.

Plastic straws "may not be the biggest threat to the health of the oceans … but our listeners actually told us about it," said Aimee David, director of ocean conservation strategies at the Canadian Aquarium. Monterey Bay. "It's something that really resonates with our visitors because they can feel it, touch it; it is a positive action that they can undertake. "

On the other side of the country, New York City could vote for a bill to ban plastic straw this year. "We are really early; we are at the stage where people are beginning to realize the impact we have, "said John Calvelli, executive vice president of public affairs for the Wildlife Conservation Society, who spearheaded the political campaign. New York with the Give a Sip program. campaign. "What's happening is that people are waking up."

What is the effectiveness of plastic straw bans, really?

We know that the amount of plastic in our oceans is enormous, but plastic straws are far from the main source of plastic pollution.

Ocean Conservancy's 2017 Coastal Cleanup Report 2017 compiled clean-up operations on beaches around the world and found that the most common litter found on beaches was cigarettes, followed by plastic bottles, corks bottle, packaging and bags. Straws and agitators ranked seventh on the list, accounting for about 3% of total waste. Bloomberg News estimates that globally, straws would probably represent only 0.03% of total plastic waste. Another study found that about 46% of the debris in the ocean was abandoned fishing gear.

At the macro level, it is important to look at the ban on plastic straws: a first step towards a drastic limitation of plastic in the ocean.

How realistic is this jump?

Part of the answer to this question can be found in a little-known theory called "contagion" – the idea that engaging in a single behavior can psychologically induce us to adopt more or less similar behaviors.

Let's say we were interested in knowing what would happen once people started to abide by a plastic ban. They may decide to become greener by decreasing the use of other single-use products or by supporting a change in environmental policy (called "positive overflow"), they may decide that their only good action gives them the right to take a very long shower (negative overflow), or they can congratulate themselves and continue to live as usual (no overflow).

Supporters of the ban on plastic straw are essentially hoping for a positive contagion effect.

Heather Truelove, associate professor of psychology at the University of North Florida, has studied the overflow effect on environmental decisions.

To minimize the negative impact, Truelove believes that we must "feel good about what we are doing, but not too well."

"The biggest problem with spillover is having an external motivation for the behavior," she said. A ban imposed by the government is an example of this "external motivation" which, according to her, could "become worrying because people will stop using plastic straw but will not internalize" [the lesson]. "

In the end, internalizing an action – making it part of your environmentalist identity – is the key to promoting positive spin-offs. And Truelove found that in most cases concerning the environment, we are seeing positive spinoffs.

"When you walk into a restaurant and you do not get straw with your drink, it can trigger a conversation. it becomes something you discuss with your family, "she said. "Your attitudes and beliefs about plastic become prominent and over on the tip of your tongue."

The bad news: we do not really know in what behaviors the ban on straw should extend.

Who needs plastic straws?

Many people need straws because they have a disability that prevents them from wearing a drink to their lips. And advocates for the rights of people with disabilities are now denouncing the bans, arguing that alternatives to straw do not work as well.

In an article in The Washington Post, Karin Hitselberger, a writer and advocate of disability, said the ban on plastic straw was part of a tradition of movements that did not take into account opinions or concerns. needs of people with disabilities. "If you do not need a straw to drink a sip of water, pain medication to treat the effects of a chronic disease or a laptop to take notes during your college classes, you can easily forget how such policies have an impact on the daily lives of someone else, "she wrote.

After Starbucks announced plans to phase out all disposable plastic straws, a group of disability advocates planned to demonstrate in front of a Starbucks store in New York City. In response, the company contacted the groups and issued a statement in which it promised to keep plastic straws on hand for those in need.

What can we do to keep plastic out of the ocean?

"That's the million dollar question," laughed Aimee David of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Our current recycling method is probably not the solution. The plastic is difficult to recycle more than two or three times, and a study conducted last year found that only 9% of the plastic had been recycled. "Without a well-designed and tailor-made management strategy for end-of-life plastics, humans are conducting a unique and uncontrolled global experiment, in which billions of tons of material will accumulate in all of them. the main terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the planet. the planet, "wrote the authors of the study.

One of the most popular methods of mitigating the buildup of plastic initially is what David called a "source reduction approach". This means eliminating the use of these troublesome plastics for single use, with policies such as banning bags and straw.

The limitation of single-use plastics has worked in other countries. In 2002, Ireland imposed a tax on plastic bags, which was followed by a 94% drop in the use of plastic bags.

Much of the ban on single-use plastics means that people take non-plastic equivalents, such as straws and metal utensils, with them. Aardvark, a straw-making company, has increased its production of high-quality paper straws, which they consider to be better than cheaper paper straws imported from China that often break down into beverages.

A change in standards is the main reason why the tax in Ireland has been so effective; Elisabeth Rosenthal reported in The New York Times article that the use of plastic bags in Ireland has become "socially unacceptable" a few years after the start of the tax.

In 2017, 28 countries had imposed bans or taxes on plastic bags, with different levels of application. The United States does not belong to it.

Britain, Scotland, Chile, India, Taiwan and the EU have announced their intention to phase out all single-use plastics over the next decade. And earlier this month, Ikea announced plans to end the sale of all single-use products by 2020.

Although there is still no national movement to ban plastic bags in the United States, several cities and states have adopted it. In 2014, California became the first state to ban plastic bags and 16 other states have since imposed bans or taxes on plastic bags.

But beyond the reduction at the source, there is no real systemic plan. The long-term problems of reducing abandoned fishing gear, developing materials that can replace plastic and creating new waste management systems persist.

According to Ives, what we need is to have a "big talk" about how to reduce plastic demand.

"We know that with the plastic straw bans, it's not like it's going to stop plastic production," she said. "It's great to see recycling and waste management, but we need to start demanding a reduction in plastic production."

It seems discouraging. But David points out that ocean plastic has become a hot topic and that, as a result, research has also revealed a sense of urgency. "I think we do not even know what is the most important solution to date," David said.

In the meantime, here are some steps to take to reduce your plastic consumption:

• Bring a reusable bag to the grocery store and continue to reuse it.
• Replace plastic bottles and utensils with metal bottles. Some coffees, including Starbucks, will even lose a few cents of your coffee if you bring your own bottle.
• Buy non-perishable foods such as beans, rice, pasta and other grains in bulk to reduce packaging and bring your own reusable containers to the store to avoid bags.
• Pack lunches / snacks in reusable containers instead of plastic bags.
• Bring your own reusable containers to the restaurant. Most will let you use your own container to take away or pack leftovers.

And of course, it does not hurt to say no to straw (or try one of those reusable batteries).

Further reading:

We know that ocean plastic is a problem. We can not solve this problem before answering these 5 questions.