Drinking straw

[1][2] Straws can also be an important part of both child and elderly care or in recovery from certain medical procedures such as dental work, making it safer and easier to consume liquids.

[6][7] The oldest drinking straw in existence, found in a Sumerian tomb dated 3,000 BCE, was a gold tube inlaid with the precious blue stone lapis lazuli.

[29] These attributes are what have made the traditional plastic straw ubiquitous in fast food establishments and take-out orders around the world.

Additionally, other advantages of plastic straws include their ability to be molded into different shapes and sizes while also being able to withstand a wide range of temperatures without deforming.

[40] Polylactic acid and silicone straws are the most similar in texture and feel to their plastic counterparts, however, they fit into the category of biodegradable polymers.

[55][better source needed] A video of a plastic straw being removed from the nostril of a sea turtle by marine biologist Nathan J. Robinson, filmed by Christine Figgener, quickly spread across all forms of media and spurred the elevation of awareness regarding the potential danger of plastic straws for marine life.

[29] The scientist who uploaded the video remarks that it is the emotional pull of the imagery, rather than the significance of the plastic straw itself, that garnered such high viewership.

[57][58][59] This statistic has been criticized as inaccurate, because it was approximated by Milo Cress, who was nine years old at the time, after surveying straw manufacturers[60][61] to ask their estimates of the total, which he then averaged.

[62] Plastic straws amounted to 5–7.5% of all waste collected from beaches during the 2017 International Cleanup Event, conducted by Ocean Conservancy, making it a minor contamination source, yet considered easy to avoid.

[29] These particles are capable of transmitting harmful substances or can themselves prove dangerous, as they have been shown to negatively affect the surrounding environment.

[29] Alternatives to plastic straws, some reusable, exist, although they are not always readily available, or deemed to be of sufficient quality for all users (including, in particular, those with a disability).

Metal straws are more durable, but they are incapable of being bent, can damage teeth or lacerate children or kill adults during falls,[66] and some restaurants have reported them as a target of theft.

[75] In an attempt to artificially boost sales, some groups have been guilty of "greenwashing", or falsely marketing their products as a viable environmentally friendly alternative, when it is actually just as harmful to the environment, or worse.

[29] These marketing tactics draw in well-meaning consumers who believe they are helping the environment (often by paying more for a product), when they are instead encouraging these misleading strategies.

[29] To combat this scheme, TerraChoice, an America-based advertising company, crafted a rubric to calculate the amount of greenwashing prevalent in a product.

[81] In May 2018, the Vancouver city council voted in favor of adopting a "Single Use Reduction Strategy", targeting single-use styrofoam containers and plastic straws.

[83][84] In March 2019, Starbucks announced that they would be debuting strawless lids for cold drinks across Toronto as a part of their global environmental aspirations.

[85] In June 2019, in the lead-up to the federal election, prime minister Justin Trudeau announced his intent to enact legislation restricting the use of petroleum-based single-used plastics as early as 2021.

[95] Single-use plastic straws banned in government facilities, schools, department stores, shopping malls and fast food restaurants from 1 July 2019.

[98] On 19 April 2018, ahead of Earth Day, a proposal to phase out single-use plastics was announced during the meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government.

[103] On 7 November 2017, the city of Santa Cruz, California, implemented a ban on all non-recyclable to-go containers, straws, and lids but allowed for 6 months for all businesses to come into compliance before enforcement would occur.

[110] In a statement released upon his signing the legislation into law, then-Governor Jerry Brown said "It is a very small step to make a customer who wants a plastic straw ask for it.

[114] In the first half of 2018, three towns in Massachusetts banned petrochemical plastic straws directly in the case of Provincetown, and as part of broader sustainable food packaging laws in Andover and Brookline.

[126] A month after the Vancouver ban passed (but before it took effect) Canada's second-largest fast food chain, A&W announced they would have plastic straws fully phased out by January 2019 in all of their locations.

[128] Starbucks announced conversion by 2020 to no-straw lids for all cold drinks except for frappucinos, which will be served with straws made from paper or other sustainable materials.

[112] Other conversions include Waitrose,[131] London City Airport,[131] and Burger King UK stores starting September 2018.

[133] Full bans on single-use plastic straws have faced opposition from disability rights advocates, as they feel that alternative materials are not well-suited for use by those with impaired mobility (caused by conditions such as cerebral palsy and spinal muscular atrophy).

[134] The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has required public places to provide plastic straws in order to ensure that those who need them will be able to access them.

[68][69][136][137] The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)—a U.S. conservative lobbying group against "excessive" regulation—has promoted model state bills which contain carve-outs for fast food and fast casual restaurants from straw bans (in effect only restricting "sit-down" restaurants), and restrict municipalities from preempting the rule with a stricter regulation (with the draft law text stating that the latter leads to "confusing and varying regulations that could lead to unnecessary increased costs for retail and food establishments to comply with such regulations").

[141] Nicholson Baker's novel, The Mezzanine (1988), includes a detailed discussion of various types of drinking straws experienced by the narrator and their relative merits.