According to the Portland Press Herald, restaurants all over Maine are joining an online movement called, "The Last Plastic Straw". The movement encourages the end to single-use plastic straws. In the U.S. alone, over 500 million straws are thrown away creating a huge amount of plastic waste that ends up in our oceans and landfills.

The Surfrider Foundation is a nationwide non-profit network of volunteers that work to protect our coasts and oceans and they are trying to convince the City of Portland to implement a straw-by-request-only policy in restaurants.

Many local restaurants are on board and are providing metal straws and wooden stirrers when needed. Compostable straws are also an option, but some will not decompose in salt water, and that's still a problem.

The Blue Mermaid in Kittery is only serving straw alternatives on request and they have taken things further by serving chilled water with no ice. When people are served beverages with ice they are more likely to ask for a straw. Makes sense!

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