Plastic Straw Ban: Helps Or Hinders Fight Against Plastic Pollution?

Reducing plastic pollution will not be helped by expending massive amounts of money and effort on what is not a significant source of plastic pollution - plastic straws. Such an effort may be justified by some that believe stopping plastic straws is the gateway to a greater awareness about plastic pollution. But the opposite is happening, in which plastic straw bans are the excuse by many to continue doing little to nothing about plastic pollution under the pretense that something important is being done.

There is a critical need to remove plastic pollution already in the environment. Nonprofits concerned about plastic pollution should immediately employ disadvantaged people in developing countries to remove plastic pollution from coasts and other areas.

In developing countries, the source of most plastic pollution, many people desperately need work. There is no excuse to not employ this motivated workforce. Technology and volunteer efforts can supplement their efforts but can never achieve anywhere near what motivated workers paid a decent wage can achieve in removing plastic waste from the environment.

Every single day that people in need of work in developing countries and elsewhere are not employed to remove plastic pollution from coasts and other areas is another day in which enormous amounts of plastic trash enter into the oceans that could have been stopped. It is inexcusable to not provide this employment, thereby helping people and significantly decreasing plastic trash already in the environment.

Plastic accumulates along coasts from lands and rivers. Oceans are full of plastic trash. Waves, tides, currents and storms returns plastic from oceans back to the coasts. Removing plastic from the coasts  protects the oceans and lands, and prevents plastic from breaking down into smaller pieces that never can be recovered once they enter or re-enter the oceans.

Ensure plastic is either properly burned, like in Sweden, or buried properly in secured landfills. Far too much plastic waste goes into open pits or garbage mountains in many developing countries, or is burned out in the open, exposing people and the environment to toxic gases and toxic ash.

Prioritize cleaning up the environment from the plastic waste already present. Fight for better collection and disposable of plastic and other oil based waste the world over. Fight to reduce the enormous amount of new plastic waste entering the environment daily. Lead the way to the use of alternative materials to wean humanity from the plastic addiction. There is so much that needs to be done, and this is only a partial list.

Do not allow plastic straws to be a diversion from seriously addressing the catastrophic plastic pollution problem before our oceans, wildlife and more are completely destroyed. If plastic straws cease to exist, it will not make a dent in the millions of kilos of plastic, Styrofoam and other oil based trash pouring into the oceans daily.

Ban the straws, but do so much more.