Plastic vs. Paper Straws – Should We Really Make the Switch for the Environment?
What’s the More Eco-Friendly Choice When We Take a Sip? One day, I ordered an iced coffee at a café. When I picked up my drink, I noticed something different—the straw wasn’t plastic but paper. “I guess they switched for environmental reasons,” I thought. At first, it didn’t seem like a big deal. But after a few sips, the paper straw started absorbing moisture, becoming soft and flimsy. “This is really inconvenient,” I muttered. Nowadays, many cafés and restaurants are replacing plastic straws with paper ones for a single reason: plastic straws are seen as an environmental hazard. But is plastic really such a major environmental problem? And is paper truly a better alternative? Are Plastic Straws Really the Main Culprit of Environmental Pollution? Plastic straws became a symbol of environmental destruction in 2015 when a viral video shocked the world. A marine biologist in Costa Rica filmed a sea turtle with a plastic straw lodged in its nostril, struggling to breathe as researche...