DURBAN - PLASTIC straws take as much as 500 years to decompose which inadvertently has huge repercussions for the environment, particularly our oceans.
After all, plastic straws, which are not biodegradable, is known to provide only around 20 minutes of pleasure, the average time taken to consume drinks, before it is discarded.
In keeping with the international #nostraw campaign, local hotel group, Tsogo Sun, have taken up the call for the plastic drinking aid to be done away with.
Tsogo Sun employee Nicholen Govender sips cold drink from a glass, the hotel group will no longer be serving straws. Video: Mervyn Naidoo
Tsogo Sun have announced this week that will no longer be serving straws at any of their 100 hotels and 13 entertainment venues around the country.
"Up to 12 million metric tonnes of plastic enter our seas worldwide every year. The sea is choking. Straws also end up in stormwater drains, causing flooding, polluting waterways, littering the streets and ending up in our food chain,” said Ravi Nadasen, chief executive of Sun Hotels.
He said when one considers that a single plastic straw takes 500 years to decompose, if we continue to use straws as we do, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.