In 2015, a group of middle school students from Falmouth, Massachusetts, noticed a problem in their local waterways: plastic was everywhere.
These five friends saw people in their community using single-use plastics without a second thought. Could they change the norm?
To address the growing problem of marine debris, they decided to start small, raising awareness with their neighbors and local businesses. Little did they know that they had kicked off what would become a major partnership funded by NOAA’s Marine Debris Program.
The students teamed up with Falmouth Water Stewards in 2015 to join the growing “skip the straw” movement and lead a local campaign to Skip the Strawoffsite link in their area. Students prompted conversations with local restaurants to encourage them to eliminate straws, provide reusable or paper biodegradable ones, or institute a straw-only-upon-request policy.
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Image via NOAA
