Tampa International Airport (TIA) has completely eliminated plastic straws from its staff cafeteria, and will only serve the turtle-chokers on demand at its full-service restaurants.
The news comes after the airport accepted The Florida Aquarium’s “Skip the Straw Challenge” as part of a global effort to reduce the use of plastic straws and single-use plastics.
“We applaud Tampa International Airport for accepting,” aquarium CEO Roger Germann said in a release. “Tampa International Airport has long been a pillar of our community, and there is no better opportunity to showcase to the world Tampa’s commitment to our environment and wildlife than at our airport.”
According to the release, almost 9 million U.S. tons of plastic enters the ocean from land every year. At its current pace, the volume of plastic flowing from land to sea is expected to double by 2025. I don’t care if your teeth hurt grammy, no straw for you.
“Every day thousands of people travel through our airport from all over the world to experience the wonder and beauty of Tampa Bay’s natural resources, so it’s vital that we protect our marine life and water ways,” TIA’s CEO Joe Lopano added. “Reducing the threat from plastic waste is one way to do that.”
The public is encouraged to declare their allegiance to the effort by checking out (and enacting) action steps outlined at flaquarium.org.
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This article appears in Dec 20-27, 2018.