Plastic Straws Could Disappear From NYC Restaurants

NEW YORK, NY — Call it New York City's last straw. One city councilman wants to suck plastic drinking straws out of the city's eateries to stop them from further damaging the environment.

Councilman Rafael Espinal (D-Brooklyn) introduced a bill Wednesday that would bar restaurants and bars from offering customers a straw or stirrer made of plastic or any other material that's not biodegradable.

The 500 million straws Americans use every day add to a massive load of plastic in the oceans that contributes to the deaths 100,000 aquatic creatures every year, advocates say. Espinal is bolstering his bill with a campaign called "Give A Sip" to get New Yorkers on board with the ban.

"(T)here is something we can do about this trend and it could be as simple as changing how you drink your iced coffee in the morning or your cocktail at night," Espinal said in a statement.

Beaches and oceans are often littered with plastic straws, but they're one of the easiest pieces of plastic waste to replace, Espinal's office said. Diners can use metal, glass, paper or even pasta straws instead

New York's ban would follow the lead of cities like Malibu, California, Miami Beach, Florida and Seattle, where the city has removed 2.3 million single-use straws, Espinal's office said.

Espinal's bill would give restaurants warnings and informational materials for the first two years after it's enacted, but slap them with a $100 penalty for the first violation after that. Patrons with disabilities who need to use a straw could still do so under the legislation.

More than 65 restaurants have already joined the push, including Gramercy Tavern and Pier A Harbor House. Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group announced last week that its 18 restaurants and bars would also ditch plastic straws.

"It’s encouraging to know that small operational changes in business can create profound and long-lasting effects to our oceans, and we see this measure as the first step in an effort to eventually remove all single use plastics from our operation," Anthony Malone, Pier A's director of operations, said in a statement.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said he supports getting rid of plastic straws because their time "has come and gone."

"We don't need them," the mayor said Wednesday at an unrelated news conference. "For a long time we had paper straws, the world went on just fine."

(Lead image: Photo by fullempty/Shutterstock)