Faircity Hotel Group, have put their foot down on the straws issue and have introduced bio-degradable straws from the 1stof October this year. They group are one of many organisations worldwide working together to rid the world of plastic drinking straws forever- and little wonder that they are one of the first, as they have a pretty active ‘greening’ initiative throughout the group.
Plastic straws have been used for years and suddenly they’re being targeted and even banned outright in some countries. Plastic straws took over from paper straws in the sixties and have been around ever since. Their use is astronomical too. Some 500 million a day in the USA and a Whopping 8.5 Billion a year in the UK!
Sadly plastics and plastic particles eventually end up in the ocean and it is causing havoc with environment and marine life. A starting fact is that it is estimated there could be more plastic than fish in the Oceans by 2050!
Straws are a particularly bad source of environmental pollution because they are so small and light that they are difficult to re-cycle with normal machinery and their volume of usage results in them ending up in the ocean purely through human error too. They are left on beaches and just blow into the water because they’re so light – and their shape also allows them to travel easily through plug holes and drains.
As recyclable as they may be theoretically, they really have unique problematic qualities that have prompted environmentalists worldwide to say “Please stop sucking plastic straws!”
Monet Du Plooy, Faircity’s Group Marketing co-ordinator says “In an effort to become more environmentally friendly, we are joining with SA’s biggest eco initiative to ban plastic straws in all our Hotels and apartments and already only bio-degradable straws are used throughout the group. It may seem like a small change, but it can have a big impact!”
