Many giants in the food and beverage industry have started to reduce or completely eliminate the use of plastic straws in their establishments. One such company is Starbucks, which has vowed to ban plastic straws in all its stores worldwide by 2020.

The movement started to gain traction in 2015, when a video showing a sea turtle suffering because of a straw stuck in its nose went viral. This has led to the widespread movement against plastic straws, with celebrities like Ellen Pompeo and Neil DeGrasse Tyson backing the #StopSucking movement on social media.

However, while conservationists laud the move for the awareness it creates, they are also skeptical about the positive impact on the environment this movement actually creates. Scientists have found that while there are approximately 7.5 million plastic straws strewn across beaches in the US, nearly 9000 kilograms of plastic end up on coastlines worldwide. Read more here!