There’s a lot of hype around banning plastic straws, and I understand if straws aren’t the first thing you connect with plastic pollution.

Bird carcasses full of plastic bottle caps, marine life entangled in six-pack rings, or one of the many plastic garbage islands in the ocean usually come to mind well before a flimsy plastic tube.

It’s a lot more than an item or two, however- single use plastics, which include straws, stirrers, bags, food wrappers and utensils among others, all contribute to the problem.

In the recycling world, these items are all considered contamination- the only plastics getting any attention from recycling facilities are HDPE plastic bottles.

That’s right- only a fraction of the stuff you put in the recycling bin actually ends up getting recycled, which came into focus recently via the Philadelphia incineration article (did you start composting yet?).

Plastics have a price like anything else- they’ve been at the bottom of the oil barrel for awhile which is why recycling incentives are scarce and they get fed to incinerators.

Burn plastic?  Brilliant!  Seems responsible, doesn’t it?

It’s easy to feel powerless about our waste issues, but there are some simple things you can do to cut down on your overall footprint.

STRAWS:
At home, get one or two metal straws and use those- it’s a nice touch and they’ll last until you lose them (don’t do that).

When you’re out for a drink or a bite to eat, simply tack “no straw please” onto the end of your sentence. It feels corny at first, but it’s really not a big deal.

For the service industry folks reading this- you have the ability to call the shots here- instead of serving drinks with a straw… don’t.

Keep the straws behind the bar.

The patron opts in rather than opting out… that’s it.

Business saves money, patron consumes beverage, less plastic is consumed.

What about other types of straws?

Glass straws look great and they’re inert… thumbs up.  Just don’t break them.

Paper straws are made from paper- not my top choice, but at least they can be composted.  Don’t count on them being collected properly in a recycling sorting facility, though.

Compostable straws don’t really change the issue- they’re more expensive, they need an industrial-scale hot composting environment, and those facilities don’t want compostable plastics anyway.

And that’s for good reason, too- just like regular plastics, they break down into smaller pieces and make it right through the screens into the finished compost.

BAGS:
We’re long overdue on ending plastic bags.

Two options: Tax them, or ban them.

Bags should be a unique question, not the customer service standard.

I’ll receive a bag when buying a single thing if I don’t quickly say “no bag please”… I always laugh and give it back, and usually the cashier understands.

“You’d be surprised how many people want a bag…”

I think it’s important to react like this to help sell the point that there’s no need to offer a bag for stuff I can carry in my hands or put in my pockets.

When you get your breakfast/lunch/dinner during work in a plastic bag, how far do you go before tossing it?

Maybe a few hundred paces at the most before eating and throwing away the bag (and the clamshell, utensils, the stack of napkins you didn’t need, etc).

The life of the bag is a matter of minutes before it ends up in a trash can… or until it falls out of the can and into the sewer drain.

The best solution here is to grab a reusable bag like a Chicobag.

They’re smaller than your fist, and will easily attach to a belt loop, fit in a purse or in the glove compartment.

It comes in handy when my groceries don’t all fit in my backpack, or I have to make an unexpected stop somewhere to grab something that doesn’t fit in a coat pocket.

UTENSILS:
At the job, keep a set of utensils handy.

Take-out food: Evaluate what you’re actually using. Give the utensils, napkins and sauce packets back.

For the Grubhubbers- when’s the last time you ticked the box saying “No utensils- I’m trying to save the earth” and still got utensils anyway?  Every time?

It should be reversed- tick the box on Grubhub to say you want plastic utensils…who would do that?

Presumably, you’re having food sent to your house, right?

…Don’t you have utensils in the kitchen?

STIRRERS:
Personally, I’ve never used one before… if I’m drinking crappy coffee that requires sugar or creamer, I dump that in first, then fill my tumbler with coffee.

It mixes itself.  What’s the stirrer for, again?

I think you get the point here.

What is the point?

Plastics are toxic, and aren’t necessary for every application imaginable.

Eliminate one piece at a time from your daily grind- I can’t promise it’ll be extremely gratifying, but it’s a responsible way to cut back on unnecessary trash that negatively affects everything around us.