A few weeks ago I asked my teenage daughters where they would like to have dinner. “Anywhere that doesn’t use plastic straws!” they declared. It was a telling moment. Until recently, the main warriors against plastic straws were committed environmentalists — green campaigners have warned for years that single-use plastics cause alarming pollution, since they are ubiquitous and not biodegradable. (It’s estimated that somewhere between 200 million and 500 million plastic straws were used in the US each day in 2017.)
Plastic straws were so ingrained in consumer culture, particularly in America, that it was hard to imagine that they might ever disappear. Indeed, until 2018, when it announced its aim to get rid of plastic straws in all of its stores by 2020, Starbucks featured plastic green straws that became a familiar part of its brand.
Anti-plastic protests have exploded suddenly – and will undoubtedly be repeated at the UN Climate Action Summit next week. Many cafés, bars and restaurants have committed to replacing the offending plastic with sippy cups and/or paper straws. Trendy joints in New York, such as Juice Press, have gone even further and are now selling reusable metal ones. Municipalities in liberal-voting places ranging from San Diego to Miami Beach are banning the plastic straw.