Refuse Plastic Straws and Lids!

Plastic is a huge problem to our environment, it is all around us. People use it indiscriminately, without considering how it is being disposed of, where it will end, how it is a serious threat to our world!  People assume that because they see a recycling symbol, it will be recycled. The sad part is that we are using tonnes of plastic that is not recycled, it´s just not a profitable business to recycle bottle caps, straws, lighters, plastic lids, etc. There has been a lot of noise on reducing plastic bags, and most people are at least aware of the problem plastic bags are for the environment and wildlife.

But there are other plastic items that people are using without even thinking about the short life span of those products and  about their disposal. They are used by millions of people around the world and most of it is not being recycled! Those items are the Straw and the Plastic Lid that cover most of the drinks that we buy while outside our homes, in take-away food, at entertainment activities, the movies, the malls, etc.  This next picture I took is at a bin on my favorite beach, Mullaloo Beach. There is a Coffee shop right across the street and as you can see people will take their  coffee with a Lid even if they are just crossing the street to sit down to have their coffee!

Will somebody explain to me why is it that every drink needs to come with a plastic lid and a Straw? Are we all little babies that will spill our drinks? Can´t we even be trusted to walk to the table just a few meters to sit down without spilling it?  Nobody asks you if you want them. So even if you don’t plan to drive somewhere, they give it to you anyway.

The Main problem that I see are the numbers. If you think that every drink that Australians consume come with a Plastic Lid and Straw, imagine how much plastic is literally being thrown into landfills. Because as I said before Plastic Straws and Plastic Lids DO NOT GET RECYCLED.

I have a friend that works in a Mcdonald in a shopping Mall  here in Perth and out of curiosity I asked her how many  Straw and Plastic Lids both for coffee and drinks are used daily. Then I  Multiplied that number by the number of Macdonald Worldwide (31,000, I found this number on their website) obviulsly this is a wild estimate, but it can give us some idea of the amounts of McDonald’s Plastic that is being thrown into the Environment Daily!
Straws 2500 p/d x 31,000= 77 500 000
Drinks Lids  Lg 800 p/d x 31,000= 24 800 000
Drink Lids  Sm 500 p/d x 31,000= 15 500 000
Coffee Lids 300p/d x 31,000= 9 300 000
Dessert Cups/Lids 200 x 31,000= 6 200 000
And this is just McDonalds!

It is so easy just to refuse them. Say NO to Straws and Plastic Lids. Every time you do, you will be doing nature a big favor. It requires an effort on your part, Most people are on automatic pilot so when you are odering  you have to tell the person who is serving you Please NO Lid and NO Straw. You will walk away feeling like you have done something good for your planet! Please I encourage you to try this!

This Sunday I went to Subiaco´s Farmer Market. For those of you who don’t live in Perth, Subiaco is a very trendy neighborhood. This small market has some very cool stalls, with locally produced veggies and fruits and some organics too. The organic unfortunately where priced way out of my range, but I was able to buy my weeks worth of veggies and fruits locally produced!

The first thing I did when I arrived was head to the coffee stall and here I encountered a huge problem. How coffee is served in this country. I say this because this was not the first time I have seen this very poor method of keeping track of the customers coffee order. What they do is they write on the Plastic coffee Lid the name of the customer and his order. This is done by the cashier,  then he lines up the lids, so the guy who makes the coffee can keep track of the order. When he has made the coffee he calls the name of the person. When I was making my order I asked the person to please not give me a lid, this totally  threw him out of his comfort zone . His response was that he would write down my name and order on the lid, but he would just throw it away if i didn’t want it!!!! What a ridiculous answer! When I repeated that I didn’t want any Lid, that I didn’t want be responsible for a plastic lid thrown into the environment, he then suggested  that I stay very to close the coffee guy and that after Fiona´s lid I could tell him my order. What a Thoughtless System….

oh I forgot to say they sell beautiful Organic Coffee, but they do not really see the whole picture do they? On one side they are doing something good for the planet, but there are totally thoughtless of how there end product is discarded, contaminating, the consecuences of not closing the loop, of not thinking you are responsable for the whole life of the product,  is really bad for the environment!

Then there are those people who do think about all the details of their business, every part of it is congruent. And I did come across One such like person in this market. The name of their Business is Food Well Thought. 100% Natural Creative Whole-food made with Love. And it really showed!

I was so Happy to see how they presented their food: no PLASTIC, not even the spoon, which was wood and the the cup was paper. I Applaud  Alice Duzevich , and admire how she has taken her well thought concept into every detail.  The Food Is Delicious, she will be very successful you can see how every detail is an act of love!

I would love to hear your thoughts on this issue and if you REFUSE Plastic STRAWS and LIDS let me know about your experiences! There are many simple ways to help reduce the amount of plastic that is being thrown into the environment. I think this is not to hard so I encourage everyone to give it a try! Please let me know of other ways you think we can reduce the amounts of plastic, so that we can share them and help awaken more and more people!

Cheers, Patricia