By   Rachel FeltmanSeptember 9, 2018 The next time you buy a soda in a to-go cup, you might be surprised to find your straw is made of paper. That’s because more and more restaurants are trying to stop using plastic straws, and some cities are even banning them. How could something as little as a straw cause such a big fuss? It’s actually the small size of straws that makes them bad for the environment. Why is plastic bad for the planet?  It’s important to limit your use of plastic for a few reasons. First, it takes energy and resources to make any object, which means to make plastic, we must create pollution and sacrifice dwindling resources such as water and...

By David Slade Charleston County will prohibit businesses from using plastic carry-out bags, plastic straws and foam take-out containers starting in less than six months. With the move approved Thursday night, the county joins coastal towns and cities that already approved bans on packaging products considered environmentally harmful. They include Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Isle of Palms, Sullivan’s Island, Folly Beach, James Island, Surfside Beach, Hilton Head Island, Bluffton, Beaufort, Port Royal and Beaufort County. The county’s move is significant because there are unincorporated parts of Charleston County surrounded by towns and cities that have approved bans of their own. Now that the county has approved one, as well, the bans will extend across West Ashley, Johns Island, James Island, the Charleston peninsula...

By  Christy Brissette     July 3, 2018   Just a few years ago, you automatically received a straw with any cold takeout drink and probably didn’t think twice about it. No longer. Seattle is the latest city to join at least a dozen others across the United States in banning plastic straws. McDonald’s in the United Kingdom and KFC in Singapore have also served their final straws. Governments and companies are taking this action because of the staggering volume of waste generated by something most people don’t need: An estimated 7.5 percent of plastic in the environment comes from straws and stirrers, according to an analysis by a group of pollution research nonprofits called Better Alternatives Now, which based its results on trash collected...

by Aubrey Hills  Updated January 17, 2019   #7 PLA- what is it? And more importantly, where does it end up? #7 PLA, or “compostable plastics” can be made from a variety of biodegradable materials including starch, cellulose, soy protein, lactic acid, or, counter intuitively, petroleum that supposedly breaks down when exposed to the high temperatures of industrial compost facilities. As vague as this description from the prominent compostable plastic producer World Centric is, what is even more vague is the description of where these plastics end up. Although #7 PLA products can technically be composted, the reality is: that is simply not happening. Allie Lalor, a senior at UC Berkeley and a member of the Cal Dining sustainability team, recently had the opportunity...