The city of Seattle reports that while people who need straws for medical use are allowed, businesses in Seattle must adhere to the new law, or else face a $250 fine. As Seattle becomes the first major city in America to ban plastic straws and utensils, there has been a momentous movement catching up with the American public. Companies such as Bon Appetit who bought 16.8 million straws in a year, but have also joined in on banning plastic straws. Since then, Starbucks announced that they intended to go “strawless.” McDonalds, Dunkin’ Donuts, Alaska Airlines, and American Airlines are just a few of the long list of companies that jumped on the bandwagon. From there, California became the first state to regulate the distribution of straws in bars and restaurants as a “straws-upon-request” policy.  

Image Courtesy of Starbucks Newsroom. 

In the past, the widespread use of plastic, one-time use straws was actually to ensure public health was regulated. Straws were implemented for its use as good hygiene and public health and combat the “common cup,” a cup many people drank from and people dying from uncleanliness. In fact, cities began issuing ordinances that wrapped drinking straws were essential in public eating places. The straw was a symbol of good hygiene and a good thing.

 

So how did this movement suddenly pick up momentum?

 

Many believe the catalyst to the awareness of plastic straws is this viral video of a Texas A&M PhD student extracting a plastic straw from a sea turtle. In a painfully long 8 minute long video, what was believed to be a parasite is pulled from the nostril. With blood dripping down and sorrowful moans from the sea turtle, the researchers angrily exclaim “don’t tell me it’s a freaking straw.” This impactful video started a change in attitude, ultimately pointing towards a change in consumer perception of straws. It started a trend that everyone is now following.

 

As the demand of straws starts to dwindle for environmental concern, it becomes clearer to economists and behavioral psychologists on how to track the rationale on how consumers are making decisions and what motivates them.  For example, customers have personally started campaigns of signatures to call companies to change their plastic straw policies: McDonalds had over 50,000 signatures, Disney had over 35,000 signatures, and Subway had 100,000 signatures.

 

To parallel the sudden change in consumer demand for plastic straws, CNN Money reports that instead, the demand for paper straws (Aardvark, maker of premium disposable tableware) sales increased by 5000% from last year. The company is struggling to keep up, sometimes delaying shipments of straws for up to 12 weeks to some customers.

 

This plastic straw phenomena exhibits economic consumer behavior. In the sense of economics, a consumer is simply someone who makes demands in the market. A producer is try to tailor its production to ensure it sells, and thus creates supply to respond to the consumer’s wants (or demand). Because consumption is based on satisfying the human wants, when the consumer wants something different— in this case, a different material straw for personal and environmental ethical reasons— then the consumption and demand reflects what the “human want” is. Additionally, Claire Sprouse, a consultant for the beverage industry in conservation education, states that “If you think about the greater picture of carbon footprint, straws are a kind of a small component, not like the most engaging way for us to be engaging with the environmental issues as a community. But I think it does have a benefit.” Consumers are active participants in this strawless movement due to personal perception and want, suggesting that their behavior is not always the most logical.