The Earth is drowning in plastic, especially the disposable, single-use kind—bags, bottles, cutlery and straws. A whopping 500 million plastic straws are used in the United States alone EVERY SINGLE DAY. Much of this petroleum-based material ends up as toxic litter in our streams, rivers, oceans, even the Chesapeake Bay.

We’re helping to change that. In 2018, we launched our Don’tSuck. #SipResponsibly campaign during Annapolis Restaurant Week. Today, more than 30 restaurants partner with us to minimize and eventually eliminate the use of plastic straws.

As an individual, you can do your bit with regard to plastic straws. Straws are too small to be recycled in our standard recycling bins so we’ve deployed special collections boxes at these locations:

Put plastic straws you’ve used or have found as litter on the streets or in other waste bins in these special boxes and TerraCycle will repurpose them properly.

We’ve broadened that campaign to include a multitude of single-use plastics that end up as toxic pollution in our waterways. Now called It Starts with a Straw, this bold, more expansive initiative calls upon and empowers us all to reduce our use of disposable plastic. Learn more and discover how you can reduce your plastic footprint at It Starts with a Straw.