Since they’re so easy to use, plastic straws are one of the most common household items.
However, they’re also a cause of pollution and environmental sustainability problems. When you want to dispose of them, you have several options.
So, how do you dispose of plastic straws properly?
Let’s start now.
Why Do You Dispose Of Plastic Straws Safely?
Contents
This plastic not only kills animals like sea turtles and sea birds, but also pollutes the water and causes harm to marine life and coral reefs.
Plastics are killing wildlife, destroying habitats like coral reefs, and putting humans in danger as well.
Microplastics have been found in all of the world’s oceans and they are affecting human health and wildlife in severe ways.
Single-use plastic, especially straws, is one of the fastest growing causes of ocean pollution in the world.
So, you have to throw them away in a safe way to keep the environment and marine life from getting hurt even more.
How to Properly Dispose of Plastic Straws
Reusing
Although it may be undesirable to reuse your disposable straws for hygienic reasons, it can be a good way to reduce the plastic waste that goes into the environment every day.
The plastic will lose its strength over time, which will make it unfit for drinking.
During washing, labels can get damaged or fall off, making the straw unsafe to use again.
It’s a good idea to cut one side off each straw before reusing it to prevent it from bending when it’s bent or breaking when it’s twisted or dropped.
Recycling
If they do, there is an excellent chance that your town has a recycling program for plastics where you can drop them off to be recycled into other products instead of ending up in a landfill where they will persist forever.
Save other more significant number 5 plastic items to recycle, such as grocery bags and bread bags, along with your reusable shopping bags and other small items that may be too small to fit in a trash can.
Cap this bigger container and put all of your recycling in one place to avoid leaving any out by mistake.
Disposal of Inorganic Materials
Inorganic compounds, such as glass, metal, and paper, are recyclable and are relatively easy to dispose of responsibly and safely.
The polypropylene-created substance is used to make all sorts of products, ranging from pens to toothbrushes to car parts.
The resin identification code, which notifies consumers what types of plastics the items they purchase are made from, identifies the material as “5”, which is the fifth most common type of plastic material used worldwide.
It is tough and resistant to heat, water, and most chemicals, making it ideal for everything from plastic bottles to food containers to furniture.
Although number 5 plastics are recyclable, the contamination rate in recycling facilities is high, so most people end up throwing them away after using them once, which is why many major companies have stopped producing products with the number five resin identification code.
Also Read: How to Dispose of Lamp Oil
Conclusion
Plastic straws are bad for the marine ecosystem and the environment in general because they stay in the environment for a long time and contribute to climate change.
If you can recycle number 5 plastics where you live, you might want to save your disposable straws to use again instead of throwing them away and making the recycling bins dirty.
If not, transporting them to a place that does recycle them is a good way to reduce the amount of waste going into landfills every year.
As a result, the easiest strategy by far is simply to avoid using straws at all and instead sip directly from a cup or a can or a glass whenever possible.
Wildlife in the seas, as well as those on land, often mistake these floating bits of trash for food and ingest them, which leads to premature deaths from choking on pieces of plastic or even starvation if they can’t digest the plastic at all.
Plastic straws are a waste since they aren’t necessary at all to drink beverages or eat foods and can instead be replaced with reusable alternatives made of stainless steel or glass.
