Dear FIS Community,
Have you ever wondered how many plastic straws are being used every day? Grade 3 O would like you to stop using them. In this article, we hope to inform you about how you may be harming the environment by using plastic straws. Did you know that the first straw you EVER used is still somewhere on this planet?
Let’s face it, they seem harmless but we use over 500 million plastic straws a day. Most of the 500 million straws go into our oceans. Sea creatures such as turtles think the plastic straws are food and eat them. The straws can also go up their nostrils, which can cause fatal injury. Do they still seem harmless now?
Surprisingly, plastic straws NEVER break down completely in our oceans. That’s why fish end up eating plastic. People then catch the fish and eat them while the plastic is still inside. Digesting plastic is bad for everyone.
So what can you do to help?
A way that you can help is to just say no to straw when you are on a flight, at a party or in a shop. We know straws are fun and we are not saying you can’t use them. We’re just asking you to not use plastic ones. There are alternative straws you can use instead such as glass, metal, bamboo, rye and paper.
So please listen to us and think about the amount of straws we use everyday. If these straws were to be connected to each other, they would go around the Earth four times! We need your help to find alternative straws. If you come across any bamboo, glass, metal, paper or rye straws please let us know.
So the next time you go to a shop and spot some PLASTIC straws pause and think “Do you really need a straw?”
Students of Grade 3 O
