Meet the boy who launched the movement to ban plastic straws eights years ago when he was just aged nine

  • Milo Cress, 17, of Burlington, Vermont is the person responsible for launching the movement that has led to bans of single-use plastic straws
  • When he was nine, he asked a local cafe to stop giving out straws to people
  • Instead, he wanted the restaurant to have an 'offer first policy' to reduce waste
  • The restaurant said yes, and started asking customers if they wanted a straw
  • Milo said he asked because he noticed many people weren't even using them after they had already been placed in their cups without asking
  • Fast forward to today, and the culture is shifting toward less consumption
  • Starbucks Coffee Co. announced on July 9 that its company-operated and licensed stores will no longer provide single-use plastic straws to its customers 
  • The change is expected to take effect globally in less than two years, by 2020 
  • This is expected to eliminate the use of more than 1 billion plastic straws per year
  • The city of Seattle banned single-use plastic straws and utensils at businesses that sell food or drinks within its limits in early July

Milo Cress, 17, of Burlington, Vermont is the person responsible for launching the movement that has led to bans of single-use plastic straws, and it began eight years ago

Milo Cress, 17, of Burlington, Vermont is the person responsible for launching the movement that has led to bans of single-use plastic straws, and it began eight years ago

He didn't know it then, but Milo Cress of Burlington, Vermont is the person who launched the movement leading to the ban of single-use plastic straws around the country, when he was only nine years old.

Milo, now 17, got the movement started eight years ago at Leunig’s Bistro and Cafe in his hometown.

That's when he asked the cafe owner to institute what he called the 'offer first policy,' rather than automatically giving customers straws, after seeing so many thrown away without even being used.

'He was just a kid,' his mother, Odale Cress, told the Daily Beast. 'He didn’t think he wanted a straw ban. He just wanted people to have the option of having a straw.' 

Milo said, simply, 'It seemed like a waste to me.'

Fast forward to today, and Starbucks has just announced it will ban all single-use plastic straws in its 28,000 store across the globe, by 2020. 

'This planet is where we live,' Milo said. 'We have an individual and collective responsibility for saving and protecting it.' 

The passion behind that statement was there for him, too, nearly a decade ago, even when Milo didn't think Leunig’s Bistro and Cafe would honor his request.

'I was worried adults wouldn’t listen to me because I was kid,' he said. 'But I found the opposite to be true.' 

'This planet is where we live,' Milo said, adding, 'We have an individual and collective responsibility for saving and protecting it'

'This planet is where we live,' Milo said, adding, 'We have an individual and collective responsibility for saving and protecting it'

Milo, now 17, got the movement started eight years ago at Leunig¿s Bistro and Cafe in his hometown when he noticed that cafe gave people straws that they weren't using

Milo, now 17, got the movement started eight years ago at Leunig’s Bistro and Cafe in his hometown when he noticed that cafe gave people straws that they weren't using

From there, things gained momentum for Milo and his mission to reduce unnecessary consumption.

'Initially, I just was annoyed at the waste,' he said. 'I started talking to some other people, some of my friends, and convinced them to order drinks without straws. It went from talking to people about reducing their waste to more and more people wanting to ban it.' 

Once implemented, Starbucks' aggressive plan to remove all single-use plastic straws is expected to eliminate the use of more than 1 billion plastic straws each year, the company said.

Christian Britschgi (pictured), assistant editor of Reason, said straw bans don't make sense

Christian Britschgi (pictured), assistant editor of Reason, said straw bans don't make sense

Plastic straw bans have garnered criticism, though, by some such as Christian Britschgi, assistant editor of Reason, an editorially independent publication of the Reason Foundation, which is a national, non-profit research and educational organization.

Britschgi conducted a simple experiment that showed that using lids with sipping holes, as Starbucks plans to do, rather than plastic lids that work with straws may actually use more plastic.  

He arrived at this conclusion based on weighing the different possible lid combinations. 

'Customers are at best breaking even under Starbucks' strawless scheme, or they are adding between .32 and .88 grams to their plastic consumption per drink,' Britschgi argued in the article.

Starbucks, however, told DailyMail.com: 'The strawless lid is made from polypropylene, a commonly-accepted recyclable plastic that can be captured in recycling infrastructure, unlike straws which are too small and lightweight to be captured in modern recycling equipment.'

Britschgi told DailyMail.com that, in his opinion, such a distinction is beside the point.

Starbucks' cited the environmental threat to oceans posed by the single-use products as its motivating factor to accomplish its total ban of single-use plastic straws in less than two years.

'That the new lids are recyclable has little bearing on how many will end up in the world's oceans and waterways,'  Britschgi told DailyMail.com.

'Most marine plastic waste is the result of littering or poor waste management. So long as the plastic is properly collected, it's irrelevant whether it winds up at a landfill or a recycling center.'

Britschgi conducted an experiment that showed using lids with sipping holes, as Starbucks plans to do (one is shown here), rather than plastic lids that work with straws may actually use more plastic
Britschgi conducted an experiment that showed using lids with sipping holes, as Starbucks plans to do, rather than plastic lids that work with straws (shown) may actually use more plastic

Britschgi conducted an experiment that showed using lids with sipping holes, as Starbucks plans to do, rather than plastic lids that work with straws may actually use more plastic

For those who wonder what people who need or simply want to use a straw should do if they become banned in their area, Milo says he sometimes carries a metal straw, but usually just doesn't use one

For those who wonder what people who need or simply want to use a straw should do if they become banned in their area, Milo says he sometimes carries a metal straw, but usually just doesn't use one

But from a wider perspective, experts disagree that straws in landfills are no different than straws in oceans and waterways.

Erin Simon, director of sustainability research & development and material science at World Wildlife Fund US, called Starbucks’ decision to eliminate plastic straws 'forward-thinking in tackling the material waste challenge.'  

In an article touting strawless lid designer Emily Alexander, published on Starbucks' website on Monday, Chris Milne, director of packaging sourcing for the coffee company, explained how this change in form is beneficial to the environment, further:

'We feel this decision is more sustainable and more socially responsible,' Chris Milne, director of packaging sourcing for Starbucks, said, in an article touting strawless lid designer Emily Alexander published on the company's website on July 9.

The company's announcement of its ban comes one week after it's flagship city, Seattle, banned single-use plastic straws and utensils at businesses that sell food or drinks within its limits. 

Starbucks' Seattle and Vancouver locations will be the first to roll out the change. 

Some may argue that the most basic alternative to straw use, sipping directly out of a glass, is unhygienic, but Milo and his mom point out that argument doesn't make sense based on how we interact with other publicly used items.

'You don’t drink beer and wine with a straw,' Odale said. 'And you use metal forks and plates at a restaurant. Almost every argument doesn’t hold water (pardon the pun).'

For those who wonder what people who need or simply want to use a straw should do if they become banned in their area, Milo shared what works for him.

'I sometimes carry a metal straw if I’m going to have a milkshake or something,' he said. 'But for the most part, I drink my drinks without a straw of any kind.'

Aside from focusing on reducing waste, the senior at Champlain Valley Union High School has been vocal on the issue of gun control, sharing social media posts in support of tighter regulations.

He's also interested in artificial intelligence, as part of the Vermont legislature AI's task force. 

Its goal is to try to figure out how to use AI for the benefit of the people of Vermont. 

Aside from focusing on reducing waste, the senior at Champlain Valley Union High School has been vocal on the issue of gun control, sharing  posts in support of tighter regulations

Aside from focusing on reducing waste, the senior at Champlain Valley Union High School has been vocal on the issue of gun control, sharing posts in support of tighter regulations

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