Trash ends up in waterways killing wildlife

Last week, the article, “Starbucks, citing ocean threat, is ditching plastic straws” reminded readers that our waste is killing our wildlife. Our economy encourages us to make, use and toss at the greatest possible speed. Often, we don’t think twice about getting our coffee to-go in a foam cup, or food in a foam takeout container.

Currently, an estimated 70 million plastic foam cups are disposed of by Americans every day. Of these, about one-third end up in waterways: rivers, lakes and especially oceans. As someone who grew up in California, the ocean is part of who I am. I can’t express how important it is to keep our trash out of one of the most important geological features on the planet.

To protect our wildlife and our waterways, we need to dramatically reduce our plastic waste and we can start by banning foam cups and takeout containers here in Washington.