Straws comprise just 0.025 percent of plastic flow into the ocean every year

By Sarah Gibbens of National Geographic. Excerpts:

"In just the U.S. alone, one estimate suggests 500 million straws are used every single day. One study published earlier this year estimated as many as 8.3 billion plastic straws pollute the world's beaches.

Eight million tons of plastic flow into the ocean every year, and straws comprise just 0.025 percent of that." 

"Steve Russell is the vice president of plastics for the American Chemistry Council (ACC), a trade organization that represents plastics manufacturers, among other industries. He says regulation that focuses just on straws, or any one specific product, misses the point.

“The focus on individual products takes our focus away from more necessary discussions on how we bring waste management to places that need it the most desperately,” he says. “We think it would be better if straws weren't automatically provided but available should a consumer need one.”

Russell says the ACC is focused on waste collection as the best way to prevent more plastic refuse from entering the ocean."