How many times have you gone to a Cooper’s, asked for water, and received a plastic straw in your glass?  Across the world the plastic straw is dropped in drinks without a thought in restaurants and bars quickly becoming a habit for businesses and customers alike.  Though it seems like a harmless piece of plastic, 500 million straws a day are used in the US alone and like many single-use plastics, many of those straws end up on our coasts and in our ocean.  The International Coastal Cleanup report in 2017 found that straws were one of the top ten items collected globally on the coastlines of the planet.  A widely viewed video showed the horrific consequence that straws have on marine life as an Olive Ridley sea turtle was found with one stuck in its nose.

Though one could argue that most single-use plastics are unnecessary, straws stand alone as an item that humans could really live without.  Seeing a great opportunity for grassroots change, Cooper’s has decided to take up the cause and now served drinks with no straws.  The team at Cooper’s  is energized and active in the fight to get rid of plastic straws and this should be the year that we never have to stay “no straw please” again!