Plastic straw ban taking hold in the Okanagan

There’s something happening in our Okanagan pubs and restaurants and you probably don’t even know it and it has to do with plastic straws.

Some establishments are fazing them out — joining a global movement to help the environment.

There are no Canadian stats but to give you an idea on how many straw we use, it’s estimated that 500 million straws are used and discarded in the United States every day.

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That stat resonates with Alysha Faulder of Kelowna. She works in the restaurant business and has picked up the ‘ban the plastic straw torch’ and is running with it. She’s convinced her bosses at Sturgeon Hall and Fernando’s Pub to ditch the straws.

“It was just as simple as me saying that we need to make a change,” Faulder said.

And if you’re sitting on the fence about joining the ban the plastic straw movement — consider this — next to cigarette butts, straws are right beside them as one of the top pollutants.