Earth Day Letter

Dear Restaurant Representative,


I would like you to know that I love frequenting your establishment and enjoy the food and service. Your restaurant is a favorite meeting and dining place for my friends and family as well.

It has come to my attention that our planet is in crisis. Our collective habits of wastefulness are having apparent impact on the well being of our environment. We are all in this together! What each of us does will make a difference. Our recent love affair with convenience and single use plastics has brought us to the point where we now know that there is a price to pay.

I would like to address the amounts of trash being generated by restaurants in general, specifically, straw trash. I wonder how many straws are used in your Restaurants? There are many who like to refuse a straw in their drink, only to have it brought to them anyway. My guess is the un-used straw ends up in the waste bins along with other straw trash.

I wonder, If each customer had the choice to refuse/request the addition of a straw to their beverage, would your straw supply be reduced?

If drink options included a choice of an “upgrade” including a reusable straw for the customer to keep, might it reduce single-use straw trash?

If it became normal for a customer to bring their own reusable straw, would the number of straws you supply change?

And finally, if single use straws are the desired method of serving drinks, have you considered alternatives to plastic straws? A simple choice of paper straws over plastic straws would reduce waste that cannot break down and forever pollutes.

Many restaurants are now “pioneering” the idea to reduce their waste, a trend that improves our environment. This trend sets and example for other businesses and each of us, your customers.

I hope that we will all be thinking about how our actions bring us consequences in the years to come. We all have the option to choose re-usable vs. “disposable”. I would love to see more restaurants like yours lead the way into a future that holds promise for humankind and the generations to come.

The desired "Destination" is a healthy Planet free from pollution, but the focus of this letter is to now prioritize “the Journey”.

Happy Earth Day!


Sincerely,


A Happy Customer with Hope for a Healthy Planet