In the United States alone, an estimated more than 500 million disposable plastic straws are used every day, according to Eco-Cycle, a nonprofit recycling organization. Although plastic straws are made from polypropylene, a recyclable plastic, most recyclers wont accept them.
Plastic straws are pretty small and lightweight, so when theyre going through the mechanical sorter, theyre often lost or diverted, said Sam Athey, a plastics pollution researcher and member of the Plastic Ocean Project, a nonprofit based in Wilmington, N.C., that aims to reduce plastic use.
That means plastic straws get tossed in the garbage, ending up in landfills and polluting the ocean...
It is difficult to know how many straws or straw particles end up in the worlds waterways and oceans, but plastic straws are one of the most common items found on beaches, according to the Ocean Conservancy, whose volunteers have picked up more than 9 million straws and stirrers from beaches and waterways.
So, they literally are recyclable. ---
'It's okay that those gangbangers stole all my personal belongings and cash at gunpoint, cuz they're building a rec center!' - OneTimeBen