Letter of the Week: Ask for a "By Request Only" Straw Policy
Week 6
This week I learned a lot about the pros and cons of straw bans. As pointed out in every other Week 6 post, there are plenty of pros to banning single-use plastic bags. However, there is one big con: some people with certain disabilities require straws. This is why most plastic straw bans are not actual bans, but "By Request Only" policies.
Kathryn Kellog of Going Zero Waste has been writing about waste reduction for years. In fact, she authored "101 Ways to Go Zero Waste" which was the first book I read when I started noticing all of the garbage in my life. In it, she shares the following letter template, to be referenced when requesting that your favorite restaurant apply a single-use plastic straw ban.
In her blog, she points out that not only is the "By Request Only" policy better for the planet, but it also saves the restaurant money!
Good morning,
I hope you’re doing well. Diner Town is one of my favorite places to grab lunch; the pecan pie is my absolute fave! During my last visit, I couldn’t help but notice that straws are automatically placed in all of the drinks.
Straws and single-use plastic in general have been getting a lot of media attention. France has done away with single-use plastic cups and cutlery so has Seattle. Even McDonald’s is looking for plastic straw alternatives.
Straws may seem small, but it adds up. In the US alone, we use 500 million plastic straws everyday!
Currently, 8 million tons of plastic winds up in the ocean each year. Most of that is single-use plastic which is responsible for killing over a 100,000 marine animals annually.
I would like to ask that Diner Town, adopt a straw on request only policy. This means that straws aren’t automatically put into drinks or advertised. Instead, they are only handed out when a customer specifically asks for one.
This will significantly decrease the amount of straws you go through having a positive affect on the environment and the bottom line.
I really hope you’ll take my request under consideration. thank you!
Sincerely,
Kathryn