Bacardi, the world’s largest privately held spirits company, announced on March 22, World Water Day, that it launched an in-house initiative to remove plastic straws and stirrers at company events, with the hope that this practice will extend to bars and restaurants around the world.

Commented Mike Gibaldi of the environmental group Surfrider, “As a large corporate citizen with great influence around the world, everybody is watching Bacardi.  They’re setting the example for affecting change.”

This is such a modest effort from such a behemoth corporation, is this really beneficial to our planet?

Says Ian McLaren, director of Trade Advocacy for Bacardi, “Plastic straws don’t biodegrade, and their use is ubiquitous across many industries, including the spirits market.  We are resolved to be part of the solution, and this includes reducing the amount of waste we produce.”

Here’s the problem with plastic straws:

Due to their chemical make-up, there is nothing in nature that can biodegrade plastic straws. Sunlight, air and moisture cause the photo-degradation effect, which is destructive to paint, objects and organisms.

Plastic straws do NOT biodegrade, they photo-degrade into smaller and smaller pieces which get swallowed by marine animals and thereby enter our food chain.  Essentially, every piece of plastic ever made is still in our environment.

Horrors!  Everyone remembers the viral video of a Costa Rican olive ridley sea turtle with a plastic straw imbedded in its nose  — totally cringe producing – the stuff of nightmares.

What can each of us do?

Bacardi suggests we learn to say “Hold the Straw”, anytime we order a beverage.  Keep in mind that a cocktail only lasts a few minutes, but a plastic straw seemingly lasts forever.

The No-Straw advocacy group by the clever name of Straw Wars, states, “By only providing plastic straws when requested, we can significantly reduce the disposal of single use plastic.  Such a simple action will not only save on overheads, it will have an incredibly positive and far-reaching effect on our planet.”

Adds Bacardi, “If you lined up the 500-million straws used and discarded each day in the U.S. alone, you would be able to wrap around the globe two-and-a-half times … Bacardi urges everyone to add ‘No Straw Please’, to every drink order.”

Bacardi is asking us to do less:  less consumption, less waste, less straws.  This initiative is part of Bacardi’s “Good Spirited: Building a Sustainable Future Campaign”, and is a noble venture to be sure.

Plastic straws have been ranked among the top ten list of items found on the beach during clean-ups.  We can all help put a stop to this pollution by saving our planet one plastic straw at a time.  Little things really do matter.

 

About the Author

Carol Blair Vaughn holds a Master’s Degree in Performing Arts and is a retired college professor from Washington, D.C. She inherited her love for Latin America from her father, the former U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, Panama, and Director of the Peace Corps, Jack Vaughn. Carol writes for the Association of Residents of Costa Rica (ARCR) and for an English language club in the southern region of Costa Rica. In the past, Carol served as Editor in Chief of What’s on Tap magazine.