The Surfrider Foundation Vancouver Island Chapter encourages all local businesses, particularly restaurants and food retailers, from providing plastic straws to customers and instead only allowing paper straws or re-usable straws, upon request.

Did You Know?

– Plastic by-products do not degrade naturally, but break up into infinitely smaller pieces, which get ingested by sea life
– Plastic contains toxins which travel up the food chain and end up on our plates
– Plastic straws fill ocean gyres
– Plastic straws kill marine life and other organisms

What We Are Doing

Reaching out to restaurants and bars
– Asking them to eliminate using plastic straws
– Asking them to only provide paper straws on request or offer reusable glass or metal straws
– Encouraging friendly competition to get other businesses to join in

Expanding awareness and creating positive change
– Order your drinks without a straw
– Purchase your own reusable straw available in metal, glass and bamboo
– Help to share this campaign, encourage your favorite businesses to contact us on our website, Facebook page or email , for resources on how to best go strawless and switch to paper on demand
– Join our Facebook pages Rise Above Plastics and Surfrider VI to get more info and share our stories

What to do with the plastics straws now? We don’t want them ending up in the landfills!
– Businesses can ask their wholesalers for a credit
– Donate for craft projects to your local school, church, daycares

Let’s end the consumption of single use plastic, starting with straws, this will lead to other products like utensils, stir sticks and plastic bottles.

Business Owners Reference Guide

Suggested Signage

In an effort to protect the health of our ocean, lakes, and surrounding natural environment, we now only provide drinking straws on request. Please let your server know if you require a straw. Thank you for your support.

Alternatively, Surfrider can provide a customized file for a page-sized poster we created that will have your business name mentioned. All you need to do is print it.

Where can I find alternative straws?

Ask your wholesaler, or below are some resources to help you start looking. Ask to return plastic straws for a credit or ask us for other suggestions, we are working on, of what to do with them.

Paper
Preferred option, as they are easily recycled, works out to be about .06 cents/straw for 400+ order
– Aardvark (US) -gives 50% discount for Surfrider businesses, use promo- RESTAURANTS50
– Green Munch (Calgary)

Glass
– Enviro Glass Straw, (Cobble Hill) – Offering 5% off for 50 straws, 10% for over 100 straws and 20% for 200 or more straws with either packaging or no packaging
– Zero Waste Emporium at 1728 Douglas St
– West Coast Refill at 1319 Broad St

Stainless Steel
– Onyx (Vancouver)
– Zero Waste Emporium at 1728 Douglas St
– West Coast Refill at 1319 Broad St

Compostable
NOT recommended as the lower mainland facilities (where most of our compost goes to), do not compost plastic or plastic like materials, as there is no way to tell the difference, they then go to the landfills (re: Recycling Hotline 604-732-9253). Only truly compostable if packaging states a certification symbol and then only suitable mainly in industrial facilities.

Eco-ware (Victoria)
Only recommended if you have a facility that can actually can handle plastic compostables. We are not aware of any at this time.

Biodegradable
NOT recommended as it does not break down efficiently in a landfill, not compostable or certified as safe, for the natural environment, once degraded.

*Be aware- Straws can come wrapped in plastic covers; and there are some paper straws that have a thin plastic coating. Ask before ordering to ensure you are getting the best environmentally friendly products.