Don’t stop with a plastic straw ban, get rid of all single-use plastics

The controversy in your article on the referendum to ban plastic straws has an easy fix. Instead of banning all plastic straws in the city, as the approved ballot initiative recommended, offer them if requested. The disability advocates have a legitimate concern. Some in that community require straws. But for most people, straws are not needed, or could easily be replaced by the paper straws I remember from my youth.

Plastic straws are too small to recycle and often end up in the water, killing marine wildlife. That is why Shedd Aquarium has its “Shedd the straw” campaign. Americans use, and throw out, an astounding 500 billion straws a day, according to the Shedd.

As the article mentions, straws are only the tip of the iceberg. All forms of single-use plastics are a problem, cluttering up our landfills, oceans and even the Great Lakes. More than 22 million pounds of plastics end up in the Great Lakes each year, according to the Alliance for the Great Lakes. And as they break down into tiny pieces, we are now getting microplastics in our drinking water and thus, in our bodies. An estimated 1 billion plastic particles are floating on the surface of Lake Michigan, the Alliance says. Enough. We need to take action.

The City Council should look at banning single-use plastics in their entirety, with straws and plastic cutlery as a first step, as Seattle, Malibu, California, and other places have done. For decades, plastic seemed the ideal material — cheap, light and durable. The problem is when you use it once and toss it, it never goes away. We’re starting to drown in the stuff. Cynthia C. Linton, Streeterville

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