Restaurants support ‘Straw-free September’

Published 9:25 pm Thursday, September 19, 2019

AskHRgreen.org and Keep It Beachy Clean are following up on the successful “Straw-free Earth Day” in April with “Straw-free September Days,” and several Suffolk restaurants are ditching straws for the cause.

Participating restaurants will skip serving plastic straws with drinks starting on Saturday to bring awareness to the environmental effects of single-use plastics, according to a press release.

As of Thursday, more than a half-dozen Suffolk restaurants have signed up to go straw-free.

Email newsletter signup

According to an email from Wayne Jones with Keep Suffolk Beautiful, these include Brighter Day Café, the Plaid Turnip, Pourfavor, Suffolk BBQ at the Airport, Holland’s Country Gourmet, General Public, Ryan’s Steaks and Cakes and Suffolk BBQ on North Main Street.

The event launch coincides with International Coastal Cleanup Day, a global sweep of the world’s beaches and waterways held annually in September. According to data collected from the Ocean Conservancy, single-use plastic straws and stirrers have consistently ranked in the top 10 most common items recorded during this worldwide cleanup.

“Plastic straws are made of material that is designed to last for decades, yet they are generally used for less than 30 minutes and then thrown away,” Christina Trapani, program manager for Keep It Beachy Clean. “We’re doing this to bring awareness to the issue of plastic pollution in our oceans.

“There are many single-use plastics, like straws, that are avoidable or have reusable alternatives. Using a reusable straw or no straw at all is a small habit change with a big impact.”

Visit keepitbeachyclean/strawfree and askHRgreen.org for more information.