KOCHI: Most of the restaurants in the city have an inseparable relationship with straws. It's hard to find juices or drinks without a straw. Many believe that it is mandatory for restaurants to provide straws. In this way, hundreds of straws are being used and thrown away in restaurants and eateries every day, which is extensively polluting to the environment, especially the water bodies.
To curb the use of plastic straws in Kerala, SUSTERA and ATREE-CERC, Alappuzha, have jointly started a campaign by introducing alternatives for plastic straw. A 'No straw' trend is growing rapidly with more and more people coming forward to join the campaign.
As part of the campaign, the interns of ATREE-CERC and climate leaders of Sustera are spreading awareness among the juice shops and bakeries in Alappuzha, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts to avoid the use of straws and to provide straws only if the customers ask for them.
“Plastic straw comes under the top ten single-use plastic waste and millions of them are going to trash every day. So, it is high time we stop using it. We aim to urge the government to completely ban the use of plastic straws in the state through our campaign,” said Sanju Soman, senior program officer of ATREE-CERC.
An online campaign was also launched, where a recorded video titled ‘Nammukku Straw Venda’ was made with people from different districts saying the titled phrase and uploaded to social media sites.
As part of the campaign, people were also asked to sign an online petition directed towards the government to stop the use of plastic straws. Efforts are being made to spread this campaign to other parts of Kerala and South India through student communities of various colleges and institutions and the general public.
Online campaign
An online campaign was also launched, where a recorded video titled ‘Nammukku Straw Venda’ was made with people from different districts saying the titled phrase and uploaded to social media sites.