And following in the footsteps of several U.McDonald&PET injection molding machine Factory39;s will test paper straws in some U."Bans can play a role," says oceanographer Kara Lavendar Law, a co-author with Jambeck of the 2015 Science study. "Together with our customers we can do our bit for the environment and use fewer straws," says Paul Pomroy, who runs the fast-food company's U.Organizers of Earth Day, which is Sunday, have proclaimed ending plastics pollution this year's theme.".But a ban may be a bit of a straw man in the discussions about plastics pollution. locations next month and keep all straws behind the counter, so customers have to ask # for them.K.K. University of Georgia environmental engineering professor Jenna Jambeck calculates that nearly 9 million tons (8 million metric tons) end up in the world's oceans and coastlines each year, as of 2010, according to her 2015 study in the journal Science ."The key to solving marine litter, Russell says, is "in investing in systems to capture land-based waste and investing in infrastructure to convert used plastics into valuable products.9 million metric tons) of plastic pollution are produced around Earth and about a quarter of that ends up around the water.

Australian scientists Denise Hardesty and Chris Wilcox estimate, using trash collected on U. "We are not going to solve the problem by banning straws.42 grams - that all those billions of straws add up to only about 2,000 tons of the nearly 9 million tons of plastic waste that yearly hits the waters."Even though Jambeck spends her life measuring and working on the growing problem of waste pollution, she's optimistic.But that huge number suddenly seems small when you look at all the plastic trash bobbing around oceans. "We can do this," Jambeck says.Marcus Eriksen, an environmental scientist who co-founded the advocacy group 5 Gyres, says working on bans of straws and plastic bags would bring noticeable change. These items that people use for a few minutes but "are sticking round for our lifetime and longer," Lippiatt says."For every pound of tuna we're taking out of the ocean, we're putting two pounds of plastic in the ocean," says ocean scientist Sherry Lippiatt, California regional coordinator for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's marine debris program. business.5 million plastic straws lying around America's shorelines. coastlines during cleanups over five years, that there are nearly 7.That's just in and near oceans.Straws on average weigh so little - about one sixty-seventh of an ounce or . Each year more than 35 million tons (31.3 billion plastic straws are on the entire world's coastlines.

Seabirds can ingest as much as 8 percent of their body weight in plastic, which for humans "is equivalent to the average woman having the weight of two babies in her stomach," says Hardesty of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. cities such as Seattle and Miami Beach, British Prime Minister Theresa May in April called on the nations of the British commonwealth to consider banning plastic straws, coffee stirrers and plastic swabs with cotton on the end. They figure that means 437 million to 8. The problem is so large, though, that scientists say that's not nearly enough. Straws make up about 4 percent of the plastic trash by piece, but far less by weight. "One goal for advocacy organizations is to make that single-use culture taboo, the same way smoking in public is taboo.""Our cities are horizontal smokestacks pumping out this smog into the seas," Eriksen says. He calls plastic bags, cups and straws that break down in smaller but still harmful pieces the "smog of microplastics."Scientists say that unless you are disabled or a small child, plastic straws are generally unnecessary and a ban is start and good symbol.WASHINGTON - Cities and nations are looking at banning plastic straws and stirrers in hopes of addressing the world's plastic pollution problem."Steve Russell, vice president of plastics for the American Chemistry Council, said people can reduce waste by not taking straws, but "in many cases these plastics provide sanitary conditions for food, beverages and personal care.S.S. "I have faith in humans.The issue of straws and marine animals got more heated after a 2015 viral video showing rescuers removing a straw from a sea turtle's nose in graphic and bloody detail