Page 23 - Newsletter-Hotel & Hospitality industry

t The Death of the Plastic Straw

h It's a growing trend: Hotels, resorts, safaris, and cruises are increasingly

g banning plastic straws.

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Hotels and resorts are increasingly banning single-use plastics like these straws.
s In 2015, a disturbing video of an olive “Unfortunately, most plastic straws are too

u ridley sea turtle suffering from a plastic lightweight to make it through mechanical
straw stuck in its nose went viral, recycling sorters, so they end up in landfills

B changing many viewers ' attitudes toward and waterways and, eventually, our oceans,”
the plastic tool that is largely a explains Dune Ives, executive director of

convenience for most people. Lonely Whale. The non-profit facilitated the
a But how can the plastic straw—a successful Strawless in Seattle marketing

diminutive item used briefly before being campaign supporting the Strawless Ocean
i thrown away—cause so much damage? initiative.

d For starters, it easily finds its way into In the United States, we dispose of millions of
oceans due to its lightweight nature. Once plastic straws each day. In the U.K., at least
n there, it does not biodegrade. Instead, it 4.4 billion straws are estimated to be thrown
slowly fragments into smaller and smaller away annually. Hotels are some of the worst
I pieces known as microplastics, which are offenders: Hilton Waikoloa Village, which
frequently mistaken for food by marine became the first resort on the island of Hawaii
animals. to eliminate plastic straws earlier this year,
used more than 800,000 straws in 2017.
Secondly, it Can't be recycled.