Oregon votes to ban restaurants from offering plastic straws
Let's block ads! (Why?)
ABC News: Technology
Tag: straws
California becomes 1st state to restrict restaurants on handing out plastic straws
California has become the first state in the nation to pass a law that will ban restaurants from automatically giving out plastic straws to help protect the environment. “Plastic has helped advance innovation in our society, but our infatuation with single-use convenience has led to disastrous consequences,” Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement upon signing the bill Thursday. “Ocean plastic is estimated to kill millions of marine animals every year." The law, which will go into effect Jan. 1, applies only to full-service, dine-in restaurants, not fast-food establishments or other businesses. It sets a fine of $ 25 per day for restaurants that violate the rule, with the total not to exceed $ 300 annually. The initiative is the first of its kind, officials said. ...
Science Says: Amount of straws, plastic pollution is huge
Cities and nations are looking at banning plastic straws and stirrers in hopes of addressing the world's plastic pollution problem. The problem is so large, though, that scientists say that's not nearly enough. Australian scientists Denise Hardesty and Chris Wilcox estimate, using trash collected on U.S. coastlines during cleanups over five years, that there are nearly 7.5 million plastic straws lying around America's shorelines. They figure that means 437 million to 8.3 billion plastic straws are on the entire world's coastlines. But that huge number suddenly seems small when you look at all the plastic trash bobbing around oceans. University of Georgia environmental engineering professor Jenna Jambeck calculates that nearly 9 million tons (8 million metric tons) end up in the world's oc...