500 million plastic straws a day ~ do you believe this stat

I saw a show sbout saving the ocean and the 1st female diver. the ocean is full of plastics and other stuff now

It does seem hard to believe - I saw the Park Service put out that stat. But if you think of everything like @giantsfan said, it seems feasible. Every restaurant uses them in bulk!

where is the statistic from? Is it only in the US?

     I saw this documentary too. It was excellent. I tracked down the name of it thanks to Google. It's called "Mission Blue" and it's on Netflix.  I encourage everyone to watch it. The main focus is the ocean and it's current state. It focuses on the woman above-Her name is Dr. Sylvia A. Earle. She impressed me so much I bought a book she wrote about the subject called, "The World is Blue: How Our Fate And The Oceans's Are One" She was the first woman to use scuba gear in the early 1960's. She is an amazing marine scientist who broke the "glass ceiling" (am I using that term correctly?) for women in a field where there were no women at all during the 60's and 70's. She has dived the oceans for 60 years and because of her extended time in the water she has seen the mass amount of change. 

So far I've seen 3 documentaries about the amount of plastic in our oceans. Plastic straws are a huge problem because of their structure-they get into the marine life's orifices-I saw a sea turtle with one stuck up it's nose. Also they never disintegrate and we throw away so many of them, along with all of the other plastic we throw away daily. I was already recycling and had been for a few years but this film made me get even more serious about our plastic. I realized the plastic little pods my daily contacts came in could be recyclable rather than me tossing them away, so I put a glass bin on top of my bathroom counter and now after opening each one every morning in goes the plastic pods into my bin. Every little bit helps. I haven't used straws in more than 5 years-maybe 7. I quit drinking soda 7 years ago and switched to water. I no longer get sodas when I'm out-and I take a bottled water with me in a reusable thermos (a Yeti)-not in a plastic bottle. 

Do I believe the figure? Doing a quick Google search I found that this figure is based on estimates provided by straw manufactures. Other environmental groups believe this figure to be low. The article can be found at ecocycle.org/bestrawfree/faqs   I do believe this figure. I think until we are shown what our habits literally are doing to the oceans we are not apt to change. Worse a great majority of us simply don't care-it's a matter of "me first". I'm hoping the greater majority of us do care-otherwise we are doomed. We need the oceans to survive. Obviously it's not just the straws that will kill our oceans. It's everything we do as humans without knowing the truth. The fishing techniques used today, using the oceans as garbage dumps, and other topics that are covered in the book. I can't remember if they are covered in the film as I saw it awhile ago, but it's a good film to start with. 

I'm sorry OP-I answered a lot more than your question. This is an important topic for me-I love the oceans dearly. 

     

This statistic bothers me so much! My family owns a restaurant. I've tried to convince them to go straw-free, but have not been successful. I have, as a server/manager there, stopped automatically giving straws out to customers, but obviously will if they ask for them.

I use at least two on most days, in my starbucks drinks, so yeah, I believe that stat is probably pretty accurate.

I don't like drinking from a straw and almost never do. I don't keep any at my house and always decline them at restaurants.

So for those of you who use above the average... I'll balance you out.

Thank you so much for your reply! I loved reading all the info you provided.

That does sound very extreme, but I think of places where straws are necessary like hospitals. They must go through a lot of straws each day. 500 million still seems excessive.

Unfortunately I believe it

Wow, that’s a lot of straws. I believe it with the info here but my entire household uses about 2-3 straws a month.

I believe it. I use at least one a day. I should look into purchasing some paper ones.

There are some good paper ones. We have a farm to table type place by us that buys really good ones. I have to have a straw for cold drinks with ice. I don’t mind these paper straws but have used some really bad ones. I believe the statistic. I think it would be really easy for places to switch to good paper ones.

I absolutely believe it.

We try to use fewer straws. I use a reusable cup for my iced coffee and a stainless straw, and when we go out I either decline a straw or try to remember to have a reusable with me. We have a good little collection going. My family isn’t on board yet with taking reusable cups/straws but we have no disposable straws at home anymore so we are making progress.