San Fran Straws

       California- A bill has been proposed in California that will help minimize plastic waste going into the ocean. The bill suggests that the servers or waiters are not to give the customers straws unless one is asked for. 'Straws-upon-request' is a small gesture dine-in restaurants would use. By doing this, the customer might engage in a conversation with the waiter, therefore, leading the waiter to explain the effects of plastic in the environment. The bill was introduced by Ian Calderon. He has stated that the plastic waste gets eaten by the wildlife, who then get eaten by humans. The plastic waste is not only hurting the environment, but our health as well. Other restaurants have taken an alternative route to recycling by promoting 'Ocean Friendly Restaurants' (Madigan, 2018).

Plastic waste is a huge negative externality. The environment is at risk because it takes a while for the plastic to degrade. It can harm the animals because they do eat the plastic. It is very important to preserve biodiversity. Plastic waste is not just a problem in California, but all over the world. This causes negative international externalities. There are other problems in other parts of the world that they don’t have time to focus on the environment. California is taking baby steps to help out any way possible to fix the waste problem.

I believe this is a great way to get the attention of how plastic is affecting our environment. Especially the oceans. Getting rid of straws seems small and insignificant, but it gets people talking. It’s better than doing nothing. I think it might be better if there was a pollution charge on straw companies. California is already charging for the use of plastic bags, they could also start charging two cents for straws. It seems a bit funny doing that, but hopefully people will stop using so much plastic. I believe it’s hard for other countries to focus on fixing the plastic waste problem since they do have their own problems. Living in a polluted environment can be very harmful for their health though. In the end, it's unavoidable.

     Madigan, Sarah. “Regulating by Way of Straws.” The Regulatory Review, University of Pennsylvania Law School, 4 Apr. 2018, www.theregreview.org/2018/04/05/madigan-regulating-straws/.