By Owen DiDonna
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Plastic straws are making small steps towards extinction in the Baltimore area.
After the resurfacing of a viral video depicting a plastic straw caught in a sea turtle’s nose, eateries across the country have been moving away from the plastic tubes popular among any group interested in slurping beverages from cans and bottles.
The Greene Turtle, a popular Maryland restaurant chain, has followed the movement and went strawless earlier this year.
“All 43 Greene Turtle locations are [plastic] strawless,” said Jill Packo, co-owner of Greene Turtle locations in Towson and Fell’s Point. “We decided to save the turtle, since we are the ‘Greene Turtle.’”
Instead of plastic straws, The Greene Turtle uses an alternative; if customers desire a straw, they are offered a biodegradable straw made of paper.
While paper straws still contribute to our trash cans and dumpsters, officials said their main appeal is that they decompose quickly. Aardvark Straws, a paper straw manufacturer, maintains on the company website that paper straws decompose in a period of 30 to 60 days.
In comparison, plastic products can take decades, even hundreds of years to decompose. A report from Ocean Conservancy, which is a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization, found that plastic products such as water bottles and bags can take anywhere from 20 to 450 years to decompose.
Officials insisted that paper straws like the ones used at The Greene Turtle are becoming more widely available. While the switch to paper straws is welcome for some, others point to some drawbacks.
Eggspectation, a restaurant chain with several locations in Baltimore County, phased out plastic straws and started offering paper straws in July.
“We received a lot of retaliation [from the paper straw switch],” said Harry Pham, a server at Eggspectation. “First, the paper straws the restaurant bought came unwrapped. Also, if the paper straws sat in their drinks for too long, they would eventually come apart and we would have to serve customers brand new drinks.”
Another common alternative to introducing paper straws is reducing use of plastic straws. Towson University, instead of purchasing any straws, has simply removed straws from its dining halls, along with other plastic products such as trays.
While some criticisms are centered around the customer experience, others focus on the long-term goal of the plastic straw ban. For many, the plastic straw ban is too small of an effort.
“I don’t think banning only plastic straws will help the environment.” said Anna Kent, a manager at R. House, a food hall in Baltimore’s Remington neighborhood. “
Despite the criticisms, many feel that the message to reduce plastic waste is being heard.
“I don’t know to what extent the straw ban will work,” said Pham. “But at least it’s generating thought and attention to how big of a problem pollution is. If we can change one little thing [like plastic straws], we can change other little things, and those add up.”