Did you know drinking from a plastic straw can actually harm our earth? Let me show you how to dispose of plastic straws easily!
A plastic straw is a tool used for sucking up the drinks in your mouth. The straw is made of a tube-shaped material that is stronger than plastics and it is commonly used across the globe.
Plastic straws are commonly used in fast-food restaurants and portable convenience stores.
They are also used in many other places, including homes, schools, hospitals, and airplanes.
The reason why people use them is that they make the drinks easier to reach your mouth.
They manage this by keeping the liquid close to the cup’s surface, allowing you to take it without having to reach too far inside the cup.
Plastic straws have been identified as one of the world’s most hazardous pollutants.
They are one of the most common types of plastic pollution found in our oceans and waters, and their sheer quantities are amazing.
Learn how to dispose of plastic straws properly!
Contents
Why should you dispose of plastic straws properly?
1. It harms the environment
For some people who drink using plastic straws, they are a necessity.
Plastic straws, on the other hand, are convenient but do significant environmental damage.
Humans may be exposed to dangerous chemicals as plastic degrades or comes into contact with our bodies in various ways.
Animals confuse these small pieces of rubbish for food, and they end up eating them. Their digestive systems may be harmed by the straws, which can be fatal in some cases.
Sea turtles commonly mistake straws for jellyfish and consume them.
2. It takes hundreds of years to decompose
Plastic straws are known to take hundreds of years to degrade, causing harm to animals and marine life in the process.
When plastic is used and then thrown, it does not decompose quickly in nature, which means it will stay a long time.
Plastic that we toss away in landfills can eventually find its way into waterways and oceans, where it can contaminate the ecosystem, leach into the soil and water, and injure animals that mistake it for food or become stuck by it.
3. Plastic straws take up a lot of room in landfills
Plastic straws have become a more obvious obstacle in the fight to keep landfills from overflowing as their popularity has grown.
When people drink three to five drinks each day on average, and many people still use straws, this adds up to a lot of plastic garbage.
Plastic straw trash is abundant in the world, with most of it ending up in landfills. While some of it can be recycled, a significant amount of it will remain in the environment for many years.
How to dispose of plastic straws
1. Take to the recycling center
If you want to dispose of plastic straws, take them to a recycling center. You can drop them off at your city’s recycling center, or at any of the dozens of public recycling locations that are listed online.
Local recycling centers have machines that will crush and shred them into tiny pieces before they are recycled into more products that are made out of plastic such as shampoo bottles or disposable razors.
This process helps reduce the number of microplastics found in our oceans and is, therefore, a better alternative than just throwing them in your regular trashcan.
2. Put it in a special container and take it to the landfill
Rather than dumping your straws in the trash, place them in a special container and transport them to the landfill.
Get a special container to keep your straws in at home. When you’re ready to get rid of them, place them in a Ziploc bag or another type of sealable bag, and then place that bag in that container.
You may also attach a sticky note to the outside of the unique container that reads “Contains Disposable Plastic Straws.”
They’ll be filtered out of your regular garbage and recycled or properly disposed of.
3. Call your local waste management service
If you’re looking to get rid of plastic straws, your city or county waste management authority can assist you.
Ask your local government about how to get rid of plastic straws.
They will tell you where to leave your plastic straws and when they’ll be collected each week.
They also will gladly accept them and ensure that they are properly disposed of. This is a much better option than tossing them in the garbage or recycle bin, where they may do harm.
4. Reuse it for a DIY project
When you have a lot of plastic straws, you are lucky because you can make some awesome DIY crafts or projects.
With a little bit of creativity, you will never run out of ideas as to what to do with plastic straws.
You can make a pen holder for your desk or office. It will make it easier to find your pens when you need them.
You can also make yourself a stylish bracelet or necklace by using plastic straws as strings.
And there are many things you could create with plastic straws.
What you should not do to dispose of straw
1. Do not throw it in the recycle bin
Please do not throw plastic straws into the recycle bin carelessly.
Once the plastic straws have been mixed together in the bin, they are impossible to separate.
People may forget that there are things that should never go in the recycle bin, and straws are one of them.
Placing a plastic straw in the recycle bin will contaminate all of the other plastics in the bin, rendering them unusable for recycling.
2. Don’t throw it anywhere
When you’re done with a plastic straw or are ready to toss your used-up one in the trash, don’t just throw it anywhere. That seemingly harmless tube can wreak havoc on our environment and the wildlife of this planet.
On land, straws can cause an array of problems for people who walk or drive around them.
They can get stuck in tires, causing flat tires and accidents.
In addition, they often end up in storm drains, where they block water flow and prevent wastewater treatment plants from functioning properly.
When they’re dumped into the river or sea, they often get caught in currents and gyres, traveling far distances until they end up on beaches.
3. Do not burn your straw
If you want to dispose of a plastic straw, do not burn it.
I can’t believe that there are so many people who don’t know this but when you burn plastic, toxic gases will be produced.
When plastics burn, they produce tiny particles of toxic chemicals like benzene, toluene, and xylene.
These are harmful when inhaled and can cause cancer or damage your nervous system.
Conclusion
Plastic straws are a hot topic nowadays—there’s been a lot of coverage in the news about how they’re terrible for the environment, and many restaurants are starting to eliminate them from their drink options.
If you’re not sure what to do with your plastic straws, here are 4 things that you can do to help keep them out of landfills:
- Take to the recycling center
- Put it in a special container and take it to the landfill
- Call your local waste management service
- Reuse it for a DIY project
If you want to dispose of the helmet, dead squirrel, and rubbing alcohol, check out my other article!
