At the moment few places can recycle straws because of their size and the types of plastics used. This leaves the 'solution' of landfill, where they can take hundreds of years to break down meanwhile removing land from any other use (housing, crops, recreation)
"Straws are among the most common plastic items found on UK beaches – they make up over 60 per cent of all the litter found there. Don’t let their ‘smallness’ mislead you, the effect they have on the environment is significant and lasting. Like all plastics, straws don’t fully break down. Instead they fragment into smaller and smaller pieces which cause environmental damage, endangering wildlife and entering our food chain.
When plastic straws are littered (rather than being disposed of in a bin), they enter waterways and oceans, and it’s here where they do their most damage. It is estimated that 8 million tonnes of waste end up in the world’s oceans each year. Much of this waste material is plastic which marine species often mistake for food as it fragments into bite sized pieces. Sky’s Ocean Rescue programme highlighted how a bowl of muscles can contain as much as 14 pieces of micro-plastic." Jo Gilroy (Head of Sustainability Bunzl Catering)
