Knoxville may be one step closer to following a national trend that aims to eliminate plastic straws.

Various organizations in Tennessee are joining the movement to raise awareness of the dangerous effects of plastic litter. Many are campaigning and encouraging people, communities, and businesses to eliminate plastic waste.

The movement began in 2015 when a video of a straw jammed up a sea turtle’s nostrils went viral. The sea turtle became the poster child for the anti-plastic straw movement. The “Strawless in Seattle” campaign was launched two years later. Seattle became the largest metropolitan city to ban the plastic straw. In recent news, Starbucks announced it will be eliminating plastic straws from all of its stores by 2020.

Knoxville has been on board the campaign against plastic straws for some time. The Knoxville Zoo banned plastic straws over a decade ago in an endeavor to protect the wildlife. A few local restaurants such as Calhoun’s and Downtown Grill and Brewery have made the initiative to offer straws on an “as requested” basis.

Because plastic straws cannot be recycled, they end up in a nearby landfill. Their lightweight material is vulnerable to being blown away by the wind. Plastic straws end up in local lakes and rivers. Not only is the litter an eyesore but it’s detrimental to freshwater ecosystems.

Keep Knoxville Beautiful, an organization dedicated to promoting litter eradication, recycling, and beautification efforts in Knox County communities have been striving to reduce the overall litter in the city. “In 2016-17 [Keep Knoxville Beautiful] hosted or supported 63 cleanups with about 1,542 volunteers. In 2017-18 [Keep Knoxville Beautiful] had 93 cleanups with about 1,930 volunteers.” Alanna McKissack, executive director of Keep Knoxville Beautiful, said. McKissack believes that a good start to reducing plastic straw usage begins with restaurants making straws an option for customers.

The University of Tennessee Recycling is “working on an initiative to encourage the reduction of plastic straw usage at UT.” Jay Price, UT recycling coordinator, said. Price said they are currently working on a campaign that will “encourage students to reduce how many straws they consume and push for campus dining institutions and food providers to consider offering straws on an ask basis only.” The campaign is intended to raise awareness of the problems associated with single-use plastic. “We hope that increased awareness will result in action – namely the reduced use of plastic straws, which will contribute to a cleaner, more sustainable university,” Price said.

Many of the students working on the campaign are in Professor Matthew McKinney’s environmental studies major. McKinney has been conducting research on the issue of plastic waste for almost two years now.

He believes the campaign is “many decades overdue.” After seeing hundreds of birds and turtles killed by plastic on the beaches of Florida, McKinney is a strong supporter of banning plastic straws on campus. “No one needs a straw. It’s just a bad habit,” McKinney said. “People won’t even miss them.”

While ditching the straw may be a solution, many alternatives to replace the plastic straw are being studied.

Smart Plastic Technologies, in Knoxville, is working to solve the problem in the plastic industry. An article by Eliza Haverstock, in Bloomberg magazine, addresses the progression of recreating the plastic straw. CEO of Smart Plastic Technologies, Tim Murtaugh, has partnered with Best Diamond Plastics co-founder and President Mark Tolliver to create an environmentally-friendly straw. After creating the biodegradable grocery bag, Murtaugh is exploring plastic alternatives such as bioplastics, paper, and glass. However, these alternatives come with their own problems such as compost management, carbon emission, and price.

Although problems arise with plastic substitutions, these alternatives are rising as the ban on plastic straws escalates.

Restaurants are restraining from serving plastic straws and organizations are campaigning to raise awareness on the harmful effects of plastic. It is yet to be seen whether this will result in the