Is California’s ban on plastic straws actually making a difference?
In 2018, California became the first state to ban single-use plastic straws. The law went into full effect on Jan. 1, 2019, which requires that customers in full-service restaurants ask if they would like a straw. We’re all pretty familiar with this regulation by now, but a little over three months into the ban, one big question arises. What is it really doing for the environment?
According to National Geographic, “In just the U.S. alone, one estimate suggests 500 million straws are used every single day.” However, of the eight million tons of plastic floating in our oceans, only an estimated .25 percent is comprised of single-use plastic straws.
This begs the question: why do anything about straws in the first place? Aren’t there bigger issues our public policies could be tackling?
For example, according to the Calif. Department of Justice, there are an estimated 20.9 million individuals being trafficked around the world. California is one of four top human trafficking destinations. Los Angeles boasts a booming sweatshop industry due to a population comprised up of 36 percent immigrants. In the 2018 fiscal year, the U.S. Department of Labor found that 265,027 workers had been underpaid and were owed a cumulative $304,914,114.
While we are making individual strides to begin a ban on plastic straws, we still shop at Target for clothes made by those being exploited for their labor. This decision has just as much of an effect as choosing not to use a single-use plastic straw.
The legislation to ban straws was brought about by a small movement gaining traction to apply political pressure. It’s great that this one action began a chain reaction for positive change, but it’s not good enough. We have stopped far short of where we ought to be.
We do not need to channel all of our energy into fixing every social and environmental ill. But we shouldn’t stop at plastic straws either. People seem to get so wrapped around the axel about single-use plastic straws, but I rarely hear people talking about unethical labor practices or the environmental harms caused by other plastics. The approach to changing our social systems needs to be more holistic.
There are so many other things to consider. What about the emissions used by the car it took to get you and your reusable straw to the coffee shop this morning, or the emissions used to make the reusable straw itself? What about the 60 million pounds of produce alone that is wasted in the U.S. every year when nearly half of the world’s population, approximately three billion people, are living under the poverty line?
It seems the ban on plastic straws, and the subsequent purchase of a reusable straw, is just a way for us to feel a little better about ourselves. We can easily trick ourselves into believing we are doing our part because of our discontinued plastic tube sucking.
Starbucks iced coffee may no longer automatically come with a straw, but it does come in a plastic cup with a plastic lid. Single-use plastic dominates our lives, from the way we bag our produce at the supermarket to the packaging around our toilet paper.
Derrick Jensen makes a powerful statement in his article Forget Shorter Showers.
“Would any sane person think dumpster diving would have stopped Hitler, or that composting would have ended slavery or brought about the eight-hour workday?” Jensen asks. “Then why now, with all the world at stake, do so many people retreat into these entirely personal solutions?”
No single person is responsible for changing the trajectory of our social norms. But as individuals part of a greater society, we need to be more aware of our actions on a holistic level, not just personal to our coffee drinking habits. Banning plastic straws is a step in the right direction, but this is not enough.
Don’t let the plastic straw ban be the only change you make to become more socially and environmentally aware. There are so many other ways you can make conscious, world-changing decisions in your everyday life, like cutting out all single-use plastic or boycotting companies who exploit cheap labor. All of these changes may seem small now, but if we continue as a united society to understand the larger implications of our actions, we can spark sustainable change.