Starbucks, Straws, China and Plastics

   
     Plastics are destroying the oceans and will harm human life far worse than can be imagined. Starbucks will phase out plastic straws. (Plastic straws everywhere need to become a thing of the past.) However, the strong Starbucks push into China will more than undo any good that will come from this change. China is the number one source of plastic contaminating the Pacific, followed by Indonesia and then the Philippines. The sad reality is that these countries and many others lack the ability to properly remove and dispose of plastics, styrofoam and other oil based contaminants. Starbucks in China and in these other countries only adds to the plastics and other non biodegradable trash that ends up in the oceans.
       It is too bad the day is long gone in which there were thousands of small coffee shops, now replaced by Starbucks, where people were served coffee and tea in cups that were washed and reused. The convenience of the fast food and beverage industry exacts a cost that none of them bear. Their trash ends up in the oceans.
       It is not enough to stop the use of plastic straws. Starbucks and all the players in the fast food industry must be held accountable for the packaging materials they use, and where it ends up.