Plastic straws are number 11 on the list of the most plastic found in the ocean. They are very hard to recycle because there isn't a market for the type of plastic they're made of. (Of which they're made--for Bare & her mother.
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The plastic garbage in the ocean existed long before the tsunami. The point is to stop using so much plastic needlessly, and then a tsunami wonuldn't pose as much of a problem.
In my former little town on Lake Michigan, the campaign is for each person to pick up and dispose of 3 pieces of discarded plastic from the beach every time you go.