Plastic Bendy StrawsBy: Melissa Cheng

Bendy Straws

Joseph B. Friedman: “The modern bendy straw was born”

San Francisco could be America's per-capita bendy straw capital.

1939, Friedman founded Flex-Straw Company

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/11/the-amazing-history-and-the-strange-invention-of-the-bendy-straw/248923/

105 million tons of plastic is produced yearly in the world

Plastic constitutes approximately 90% of all trash floating on the ocean’s surface, with 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile.

It takes 500-1000 years for plastic to degrade.

Think about how many McDonald's there are and now add all the other fast food restaurants

Typically, you use it once and toss it in the garbage 20 minutes later. Do this twice a day and you use 7,300 plastic straws in a decade!

Plastic pieces outnumbering sea life by a measure of 6 to 1

Organisms at the bottom of the food chain, such as plankton and krill, ingest the chemicals along with the microscopic plastic particles. As larger fish consume the smaller ones, the chemicals work their way up the food chain.

“Be a drinker, not a sucker – a sipper, not a pucker.”

Now what do we do?

Plastic Pollution Coalition:School and college campuses are often the source of enormous amounts of plastic pollution.  ”Plastic Free Campuses” is a global community of university and school campuses working towards reducing their plastic footprint.