I consider the straw a bad form of litter.
Many straws are wrapped in paper; consequently, two piece of litter evolve -- the straw and its respective wrapper. Longer term, if a straw sits in the sun for a few weeks, then it splinters into an amazing number of pieces upon being touched.
The straw dispenser needs to become a penny machine. If somebody wants a straw. then they need to put a penny into the machine. The collected pennies will be donated to organizations that take on the responsibility of picking up litter. [It costs money to pick-up litter.]
I helped pick-up litter (and trash) along US-60 in Apache Junction and it was amazing the number of straws we encountered. [Thank You to Arizona Clean and Beautiful for the opportunity to work on a historic highway such as US-60.]
I agree with Leandra Lewis that businesses need to think about picking-up their respective parking lots. (Adopt-A-Parking-Lot?) AzLitter.org contains a picture of a bunch of wrappers in the parking lot of a fast-food establishment. These wrappers end up blowing away into areas that many not be patrolled by Litter Patrols. If parking lots were patrolled on a periodic basis, then these wrappers could be captured at their source.
Businesses are free to ignore the litter problem they enable, but if they do, then they risk being boycotted.
Straw Picture
[http://AzLitter.org/22Oct2002/pics/02_JackInTheBoxStraws.jpg]
Author: G.D.Thurman
[gdt@deru.com]
Created: 09 Dec 2002
