For the second year in a row, aquariums across the country are collaboratively campaigning against single-use plastic, and eliminating straws is the #FirstStep, according to a press release this month from the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.
The press release indicates that the #FirstStep campaign includes:
- Recruiting 500 new businesses to partner with aquariums and commit to offer straws only on request, for a total of 1,000 businesses
- An online pledge site (pledge.ourhands.org)
- A text-message campaign
- Initiatives by partner aquariums to inspire cities in their regions to pass “straws-on-request” ordinances and other local measures to reduce single-use plastic
“Cutting back on plastic straws doesn’t solve the problem, but it’s an important first step,” Jerry Schubel, president and CEO of the Aquarium of the Pacific, said in the release. “We have to stop plastic trash at its sources and find ways to capture trash before it enters our waterways.”
The #FirstStep campaign is happening during the nationwide #NoStrawNovember movement, which challenges people to refuse to use plastic straws for 30 days.
The 22 aquariums in various states participating in the #FirstStep campaign make up the Aquarium Conservation Partnership (ACP), which was formalized in 2016.
ACP Director Kim McIntyre told the Signal Tribune that the group’s top priorities are reducing the sources of plastic in the ocean, increasing the protection of the ocean and freshwater ecosystems and improving the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture.
“Plastic is now found in every ecosystem on Earth,” McIntyre said. “They’re finding it in the sea ice, they’re finding it in the deep sea. And this is not only an issue for the oceans; this is a big issue for our freshwater ecosystems– lakes, streams, rivers– they’re finding just as much plastic, if not more, than is found in the oceans.”
McIntyre said that after the first week of this year’s campaign, there are at least 3,000 people who have completed the online pledge to stop using plastic straws and approximately 1,000 people participating in a text-message campaign.
Long Beach residents can send the text message “REDUCE” to 49767 to opt into the Aquarium of the Pacific’s campaign, which will send participants a daily text message for a week. Each message will have a tip for reducing single-use plastic and photos of sea animals. McIntyre said one example of a daily tip is, “When ordering take-out, ask the deliverer to not bring plastic utensils with your meal.”
#FirstStep will continue through 2019, and the group is pushing for not only business and individual participation, but also for public policy and local ordinances on this issue.
“California is way ahead of the game on this,” McIntyre said. “We just passed the first ‘straw-upon-request’ bill, […] and the Aquarium of the Pacific actually helped support the passage of that. […] So, I think they’re going to target businesses to do more than just straws.”
In California, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that prohibits restaurants from providing single-use plastic straws to customers unless requested by them. Brown signed the bill in September, and it will impact sit-down establishments only.
Aquarium of the Pacific Senior Manager of Communications Claire Atkinson told the Signal Tribune that the aquarium has not officially partnered with any local businesses as of yet for this campaign.
“I know, independently, there are restaurants in Long Beach that are working on this,” Atkinson said. “All of the aquariums, on their own, are going to be reaching out to businesses in their community […] This campaign will last through Earth Day in 2019 and, so, it’s something the aquarium is definitely going to be focusing on through that time and in the future, so I would imagine that, at some point, we will be doing something with local restaurants.”
The Aquarium of the Pacific press release indicated that the ACP has already eliminated 5 million straws as a result of its coordinated efforts to reduce single-use plastic.
“That number is collectively across all 22 of the aquariums, and it reflects all of the ways that the various aquariums have cut back on straws at their institutions, whether it’s not serving them at all anymore or serving alternatives straws made out of different materials,” Atkinson said. “We’ve avoided sending that many [straws] to the landfill.”
The 22 members of the ACP have already reached a goal of eliminating plastic straws and bags in their institutions, and they are working on eliminating plastic beverage containers next, McIntyre said. More information is available at pledge.ourhands.org.
