The San Antonio Zoo today is beginning a city wide initiative designed to convince San Antonio to eliminate the distribution and use of plastic straws, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Zoo spokesman Chuck Cureau says the program will be called 'Straws No Mas' and will encourage local businesses and restaurant to stop offering single use plastic straws to their customers.
"We have had upward of 100 businesses and individuals sign the pledge on line, promising that they would be a part," Cureau said.
The campaign against plastic straws has caught fire worldwide as a way to cut down on ugly litter, and on materials which can be dangerous to domestic and wild animals.
"Over 500,000,000 plastic straws are used in the U.S. every day… and they will last for hundreds of thousands of years," the Zoo said in a statement as part of its 'Straws No Mas' effort. More than 79% of all plastic waste ends up in landfills, or gets stuck in the natural world. As our nation is finding itself with too much plastic to recycle, straws are finding new homes in rivers, lakes and the ocean—clogging waterways and harming animals."
The Zoo will urge food services businesses to switch to paper straws or not offering straws at all.
"They sign the pledge, and they will get a certificate that they can hand in their establishment, demonstrating that they are doing their part to eliminate some of the waste," Cureau says.
The campaign will also encourage customers to bring their own straws, and refuse plastic straws when offered.