July has been an exciting month as the Last Straw Campaign came to a close. Between Calgary (62) and Edmonton (86), almost 150 restaurants participated. Congratulations Edmonton for winning the coveted title of 2018 Last Straw Alberta Champion! We’ll get ’em next year Calgary!
LAST STRAW CAMPAIGN RECAP
The Last Straw campaign is a movement to reduce plastic waste produced in the hospitality industry by switching to a Straw-on-Request service standard. On July 14th, Calgary and Edmonton squared off to see who could get the most bars and restaurants to go straw-free. Between the 2 cities, almost 150 restaurants participated. Congratulations to Edmonton for becoming Alberta’s 2018 Last Straw Champion. Thank you to all the participating establishments and a huge shout out to our sponsors:
Elite Brewing & Cidery
Straw Hut Co.
WAX Partners
Mountain View Printing & Graphics
Pampa Brazilian Steakhouse
A big thank you to our friends at Disability Action Hall for helping us to shine a light on the fundamental importance of straws for those who need them. This is an ongoing conversation and we look forward to more collaborations. Read more about our collaboration with the Disability Action hall here.
While our competition with Edmonton has come to an end, we are still advocating for business to switch to a straw-by-request service. Businesses can still reach out to be added to the website and get more information! Contact us at info@plasticfreeyyc.com.
BAN THE BAG
Our environmental crusade to reduce single-use plastic items is still going strong. While we made progress with the Last Straw campaign, we haven’t forgotten about the pesky overused plastic bag!
Plastic bags wreck havoc on the environment.” Change to ” Plastic bags wreck havoc on the environment. They do not bio-degrade, they clog up landfills and harm wild life… … think of the baby sea turtles! It’s estimated that Canadians use about 2.86 billion plastic bags a year. On average a plastic bag is used for about 12 minutes before it’s discarded. Considering that plastic can take hundreds of years to break down, that’s a lot of excess plastic out there in the universe!
There are a few things you can do to help reduce the imperishable plastic bag such as bringing your own reusable bags (and storing some in your car or purse for impromptu grocery runs), recycling the plastic bags that you already have, and simply refusing to use them.
For more helpful tips and reasons to rid your life of plastic bags, be sure to check out Ban the Bag YYC. Sign the petition to ban the bag in Calgary today! Click here.
TEAM NEWS
The Plastic-Free YYC team has grown by another member this month. A warm welcome to Lea Luciano, joining us as Social Media Coordinator for Facebook and Twitter. Lea is studying Journalism at SAIT and will be a great asset to our team with her wealth of communications knowledge. Welcome Lea!
Plastic-Free YYC is always looking for passionate, talented contributors to join our team. For current roles, click here!