Every day, Americans throw away 500 million plastic straws, enough to circle the Earth twice, or fill 125 school buses.

每天美国人都要扔掉5亿根塑料吸管，足以绕地球两圈，或者装满125辆校车。

Made from fossil fuels, they are almost never recycled because they're too small and could be made from several different types of plastic. They simply contribute to the massive problem of plastic pollution; eight million tons of plastic is dumped into the oceans every year.

用化石燃料制成的塑料吸管几乎从来不会被回收利用，因为它们体积太小，而且可能是由好几种不同类型的塑料制成的。这些吸管直接加剧了塑料污染的严重问题，每年都会有800万吨塑料被倾倒进海洋中。

Plastic straws are now the target of a growing movement to reduce their use. Possibly the first of such campaigns, Be Straw Free was started in 2011 by Milo Cress, who was only nine years old at the time. "I noticed that whenever I ordered a drink at a restaurant, it would usually come with a straw in it, and I don't usually need a straw," he said.

现在以减少塑料吸管使用量为目标的运动越来越多。“不用吸管”可能是第一场这样的运动，该运动在2011年由年仅9岁的米罗?克雷斯发起。克雷斯说：“我注意到，无论何时我在餐厅点饮料，杯子里总会有吸管，而我一般不需要吸管。”

"This seemed like a huge waste. Straws are made of oil, a precious and finite resource. Is making single-use plastic straws, which will be used for a matter of minutes before being tossed away, really what we want to do with this resource?"

“这看起来是一个巨大的浪费。塑料吸管是用石油制成的，而石油是一种宝贵的有限资源。用石油生产才用几分钟就丢掉的一次性吸管，我们真的想这么利用资源吗？”

Cress started asking restaurants in Burlington, Vermont, where he lived at the time, to stop providing straws automatically to customers and make them optional instead. Many agreed and his request made ripples¹ nationwide. He says that restaurants that make the switch report a reduction in the number of straws they use between 50 and 80%.

克雷斯开始请求他当时的居住地佛蒙特州伯灵顿的餐厅停止自动为顾客提供吸管，改为自选。许多餐厅都同意了，他的请求产生的影响像涟漪一般在全国扩散开来。他说，做出改变的餐厅报告说，所用的吸管数量减少了50%到80%。

The anti-straw sentiment has crossed borders into the UK, where straws have been included in a government plan to ban all plastic waste by 2042. Last year, large pub chain Wetherspoons announced that it would replace plastic straws with paper alternatives across 900 outlets². After the announcement, many smaller chains and pubs across the country followed suit. According to Wetherspoons CEO John Hutson, the move will save 70 million plastic straws a year and the reaction from patrons has been "very positive."

反吸管热潮还扩散到了英国，吸管被纳入了英国政府在2042年前禁止所有塑料垃圾的计划。去年，大型连锁酒吧Wetherspoons宣布，将在900家分店中把塑料吸管替换为纸吸管。在这之后，英国许多中小型连锁店和酒吧纷纷效仿。Wetherspoons公司的首席执行官约翰?哈特森表示，此举每年将节省7000万根塑料吸管，从客户那里得到的反馈也“非常积极”。

Offering alternatives or making plastic straws optional, rather than banning them outright³, is a common trait among these campaigns. "We do not want to make people feel bad for needing or even wanting to use a straw in their drink," said Jackie Nunez, founder⁴ of The Last Plastic Straw.

提供塑料吸管的替代品，或者将塑料吸管变为可选项，而不是完全禁止，是这类活动的普遍特征。“最后一根塑料吸管”运动的创始人杰基?努涅斯说：“我们不想让人们因为需要或想要用吸管喝饮料而感到不痛快。”

"There are many other viable⁵ alternatives to single-use plastic drinking straws that are less harmful to the environment, wildlife and humans," she said.

她说：“有其他许多对环境、野生动物和人类更无害的可行选择可以替代一次性塑料吸管。”

Some people use straws to reduce the damage of sugary or acidic drinks to their teeth, or due to special requirements. "There are disabled people who write me to tell me they carry reusable straws with them -- many reusable straws even come with a carrying case," said Cress. "There are reusable glass, stainless⁶ steel, copper⁷, bamboo, and several other kinds of reusable straws."

有些人为了降低含糖或酸性饮料对牙齿的伤害或其他特殊需求而使用吸管。“有些不得不用吸管的人写信告诉我，他们随身携带可反复使用的吸管——许多这种吸管还自带收纳盒，”克雷斯说，“现在有可反复使用的玻璃吸管、不锈钢吸管、铜吸管、竹吸管，还有好几种其他类型的吸管可多次使用。”

By not demonizing the straw as an object, he thinks activists⁸ can hope to achieve better goals. "I am not out to ban straws. I think it's much more effective to encourage people to make the choice not to use them. Voluntary participation⁹ encourages people to spread the word. Forcing people to do things is not always the most effective way to make a change."

他认为，如果不将吸管这个物品妖魔化，反吸管活动有望达到更高的目标。“我不赞成禁止吸管。我认为鼓励人们选择不用吸管会有效得多。自愿的参与会鼓励人们传播信息。强迫人们去做事不一定是达成改变最有效的方式。”