Sustainable Ocean Alliance seeks support to reduce plastic straw use on campus

Americans use over 500 million straws per day — they are among the top 10 items found during beach cleanup projects. Boston University’s Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA) chapter is asking students for support in making BU the first ever straw-conscious campus to help keep straws from polluting our oceans.

This initiative is being led by Taylor Mann, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences and the president and founder of the SOA chapter at BU. SOA is working in collaboration with Lonely Whale, an organization that works to help save marine life.

The chapter is asking students to a sign a letter of support for the initiative to remove plastic straws from BU’s campus. Mann said this petition will help show BU Dining Services that people support the initiative.

“They just want to see how students are reacting,” Mann said. “The more people that sign it, the more we can show administration to say, ‘Look — a lot of people at this school are interested.’ That’s kind of how they’ll make the [decision] if they’re willing to switch to paper straws.”

Mann said the letter of support, which the SOA released over a week ago, has a little more than 200 signatures. She aims to garner more support.

“We’re hoping to get into the thousands, but we have a ways to go,” Mann said. “We’re going to start tabling [at] the GSU and things like that, so hopefully it’ll help spread the word.”

Mann said if the initiative were to be implemented by BU, it would be a simple process, as BU Dining Services has already said they have a potential provider for paper straws.

“They just want to make sure the product they’re getting will hold up and be just as good as a plastic straw,” Mann said. “So that’s really their only major concern. Because BU is a business, they sell things, so they don’t want their consumers to be disappointed.”

Mann said her love for animals motivated her to take action when she heard how plastic straws harm marine life.

“I just wanted to do something and make people more aware of it because it’s something so simple you can do, but I feel like a lot of people just don’t know that it’s a problem, and that’s why it’s kind of persisted the way it has,” Mann said.

Jade Fisher, a member of SOA and sophomore in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said the initiative has helped her realize the damage that plastic straws and other pollutants can do to marine animals.

“The difference is less plastic in the ocean,” Fisher said. “Plastic takes forever to decompose, so the less [that’s] present in the environment, definitely the better.”

BU Earth and environment professor Nathan Phillips said he supports the initiative because it would instigate a transition away from disposable plastics, which are less harmful to the environment and the global climate.

Phillips said the use of disposable plastics such as plastic straws not only damages the ocean environment, but also contributes to issues such as climate change.

“A lot of people don’t quite get that part, but plastics are manufactured from fossil fuels,” Phillips said. “So every time we use a plastic straw that we don’t need or a single use plastic container that we throw out, we’re essentially keeping the fracking and the extraction-of-petroleum industry going.”

While the initiative to replace plastic straws with paper straws will be beneficial, Phillips said, it would be even better to try to eliminate the use of straws all together.

“There should be, which I’m sure there is, an initiative — an attempt — to reduce straw use altogether where appropriate,” Phillips said.

Delanie Fico, the social media manager for SOA and a freshman in CAS, said the campaign makes people realize how something as small as plastic straws can cause great damage to oceans.

“Since so many people use so many straws without thinking of even recycling them, it makes straws a huge pollutant in our oceans,” Fico said. “With becoming straw-conscious, less plastic would be disposed of in our oceans and save more and more sea animals.”

Sophia Walton, a freshman in CAS and member of SOA, said the initiative will show how small things can make a difference in helping the environment.

“Have you seen the pictures of the sections of the Great Barrier Reef that are dead?” Walton said.  “Those makes me cry. The ocean has incredible amounts of pollution and so many dead zones. Getting rid of something as small as straws will make a difference.”