The environment is facing many problems that can be prevented by an alteration of your daily routine. Considering the fact that we are a school by the beach, the Long Beach City College community should join the movement of no single-use plastic.
The process can begin with the removal of plastics that include bottles, utensils, and food packaging products on campus, instead of creating more waste everyone should invest in reusable products.
Plastic straws are one of the top ten items that are found in the ocean. By refusing them, there will be a significant decrease of pollution and the endangerment towards marine life.
There are many alternatives to plastic straws such as stainless steel, glass, bamboo, and paper.
The LBCC Viking Grill already provides paper straws in place of plastic straws, and other single-use products made of biodegradable and recycled materials. This small effort will go a long way in the future.
By making a statement of no plastic, students will realize the importance of sustainability.
If every student is encouraged to make a shift to non-plastic they will reduce the amount of enormous waste that is discarded plastic which ultimately ends up on the street and ocean.
Additional switches that can be made include grocery bags, utensils, and water bottles.
According to Eco-Cycle, one of the largest non-profit recyclers, the average person uses nearly 40,000 straws in their lifetime. This contributes to the 500 million that are used per day in America alone.
In an effort to raise awareness on the detrimental outcomes of plastic pollution, a ban went into effect on October 1st throughout the city of Los Angeles.
All restaurants in Los Angeles are prohibited from providing plastic straws unless requested by a customer.
This process began in April of 2019 on Earth Day where restaurants with 26 or more employees would be restricted from providing straws unless requested. This restriction eventually expanded to all restaurants in the city.
Minimizing our carbon footprint on our own seems out of reach, but if all LBCC students did something such as using reusable water bottles or a metal straw we will be one step closer to helping our environment.