Single-use plastics are a scourge. The 2018 Royal Statistical Society Statistic of the Year comes from a research study entitled “Production, Use and Fate of all plastics ever made.” The winning stat: “90.5% of plastic waste is recycled.”

What happens to the rest? For the most part, it makes its way into our landfills or worse our Oceans. Plastic straws are only a small part of the overall problems. However, they really are in many ways the ultimate disposable item. Used once, and then discarded.

In the US it’s said that 500 million plastic straws are used every day. That’s a whole lot of takeaway meals consisting of a burger, soda and plastic straw amongst other uses.

At TRVST we’re working hard to inspire and encourage people to act for change. Earlier in 2019, we wrote a series of articles on plastic straws including a look at our long history with plastic straws  and their environmental impact. We also covered if plastic straws can be recycled, and companies working to ban plastic straws and their eco-friendly plastic straw alternatives. They’ve received thousands of views and a great deal of interest across the web.

We’ve got a lot more to do, write about and propose across a range of fields of action. These include areas such as renewable energy, biodiversity and social enterprise. Meanwhile to top of our work with plastic straws, we prepared the infographic above to further gain awareness and encourage more people to reduce their use of single-use plastics.

If eating out take a simple step and ask for non plastic straws with your meal. Or even better none at all.

Each and every straw that doesn’t pollute our oceans is a good thing. Please free free to share the attached with credit to www.trvst.world or copy the embed code from our page: The Last Straw - Calling Time on Plastic Straws.

… with thanks towards less single use plastics all over our beaches!

Design Credit: Pete Duggan