Do you really need a straw with that?
One Toronto bar is saying "no, you don’t" – especially if that straw is plastic.
The Dakota Tavern has recently joined the anti-straw movement in an effort to curb the surge of plastic pollution impacting Earth’s oceans.
Shawn Creamer, owner of The Dakota Tavern, says the decision to stop serving straws came after he saw with a straw lodged in its nose
After talking to a friend and fellow Toronto bar owner, Chris Harper, Creamer and his wife decided to eliminate plastic straws at The Dakota Tavern.
"[W]e heard [Chris] talking about how his kids had come home after seeing that turtle video and it had affected them. … [T]hat day we made that decision that we weren’t going to serve straws either," Creamer told CTV News Channel on Monday.
"As parents and as responsible business owners, it just didn’t feel like the right thing to do after that point."
It's been roughly four months since The Dakota Tavern went strawless. Creamer says his patrons have responded positively to the change, although he credits a nifty sign for helping explain the no-straw policy.
"We have a logo in our bar that says ‘straws suck’ that was created by one of the singers in one of the bands that plays at the Dakota," Creamer said.
"[W]hen people come in and ask for a straw and we tell them we don’t have them, it makes very easy for us to sort of show them this sign and explain to them why we’ve made that decision."
Bars and restaurants don’t necessarily need to go straw-free to help curb plastic pollution, Creamer added. There are many alternatives to single-use plastic straws such as paper straws, biodegradable straws, and re-usable titanium straws.
But if a restaurant or bar doesn’t provide a sustainable alternative to plastic straws, customers can always make the personal choice to go straw-free, Creamer said.
"If [patrons] come into a bar that’s serving plastic straws and you don’t want one, you can have the option of saying 'I don’t need a straw,'" he said.
"We’re all in this together and that’s the part that a patron can play as well."
