Yes, it’s about the innocuous looking plastic drinking straw that gets propped up in the cold beverages you order. Doesn’t really look worth making a fuss over, does it?

Plastic drinking straws are one of the most commonly found items in beach clean-ups. According to NorthEast Recycling Council (NERC), about 500 million straws are sold every day in the US, which comes out to 1.6 per capita every day.

Like other plastic items, they don’t decompose, they just break into smaller fragments. This is one reason why plastics are particularly hazardous to marine animals. They’re easily mistaken for morsels of food, filling the belly but depriving the animal of nutrition.

We are losing animal species at an alarming rate. Plastics are only one part of the reason for this, but it’s a problem you can help mitigate. How?

The most important thing you can do is to REDUCE YOUR USE OF PLASTICS. Recycling works only when there’s a good market for used plastics. Even when the market’s good, some plastics (like straws) can’t be recycled anyway.

Another way you can help is PARTICIPATE IN LITTER CLEAN-UPS. Remember that litter is not only unsightly, it’s also hazardous to many animals. You may be helping save a species by just picking up litter.

And be brave enough to remind litterbugs DON’T LITTER IN THE FIRST PLACE. Once it’s out in the environment, it’s impossible to pick up every piece of litter.

HOW TO RECYCLE PLASTICS AT UUSS? We now have single stream recycling, so all plastics with any recycles triangle go into any container that has a recycle triangle. Do they really get recycled? Not necessarily. So REDUCE YOUR USE!!

You’ll be living your UU Seventh Principal and showing “Respect for the Web of all existence” when you help take care of the environment. –Nancy Peterson, Chair of Green Sanctuary