One by one, eight-year-old eco-warrior Shay Soo is picking them off.
Undeterred by some lukewarm or even zero responses to his email, Shay took his bid to rid Steveston restaurants of plastic straws to another level.
Armed with a bold letter of intent he typed up himself, the Grade 3 student strode into a host of establishments in the village requesting 10 minutes of their time to carry out an anti-plastic straw presentation.
It worked a treat.
Several of the businesses he visited – including Catch, Steveston Seafood House, Purpose Smoothie, Buck & Ear and O’Hare’s – agreed to have him come in with his storyboard and deliver his presentation.
And two of them were so taken by Shay’s message that they, almost immediately, decided to halt the use of plastic straws and ordered in compostable corn resin ones instead.
“He went in himself to the businesses, handed them the letter and basically said, ‘when’s a good time?’ said his proud mom, Shawna, adding that Shay’s inspiration came from an impact project at school, focusing on how people’s actions affect their communities.
“Braeden (Ralla) at Purpose Smoothie was very impressed and said to him ‘where do I get these straws?’
“Shay went himself and met the supplier about the straws, got the information and gave it to Braeden.
“And Shane (Dagan) at Steveston Seafood House got them ordered straight away after Shay’s presentation.
““We never heard back from Starbucks, after they said they’d look into it.”
According to Shawna, O’Hare’s pub had already stopped handing out plastic straws unless requested and Britannia Brewpub purposely doesn’t even use them at all, for the same environmental reasons that fueled Shay.
Shawna said her son, who lives near Steveston and attends Stratford Hall’s baccalaureate program in Vancouver, was particularly moved to take action after seeing the now infamous video about a sea turtle with a plastic straw stuck up its nose.
Purpose Smoothie owner Ralla said Shay’s presentation was “amazing” and that he was “convinced after hearing it.”
“I believe (Shay) should be recognized for his amazing work. This is also a lesson to people out there, to take action for what they believe in.
“A lot of people talk about an idea, or the change that they want to see, but few people actually take the action steps.”
One of Steveston Seafood House customers who witnessed Shay’s presentation contacted the Richmond News to express her admiration for the youngster.
“I was having dinner with my daughter and Shane, the Seafood House owner, said a young boy was coming in to do a presentation for his school on the awful effects of plastic straws, and asked if we were interested in sitting in,” said Bev Friesen.
“He hit the presentation out of the park! What impressed me so much was an eight-year-old’s ability to make such a huge change within his community.”
According to the environmental group The Last Plastic Straw, the U.S. alone discards more than 500 million plastic disposable straws each year, ending up in landfills, parks, beaches and oceans, with around 44 per cent of seabirds and 22 per cent of cetaceans having ingested plastics.
Over the last few years, many movements have kicked up within the restaurant and bar industry to phase out plastic straws, replacing them with glass or compostable ones, such as those touted by Shay.
However, global entities, such as the United Nations Environment Programme, are skeptical of the advent of compostable plastics, urging people to focus on changing habits rather than relying on technology.
And many compostable plastics require different time or temperature to be broken down and there is no facility in B.C. that currently accepts such items, including the City of Richmond.
Although acknowledging compostable plastic straws are not the complete answer, Shawna said it’s still a move in the right direction.
“In ideal circumstances, it takes around 45 days to decompose,” she said.
“It’s not perfect, but it’s way better than plastic.”
She said her son is going to keep doing his presentation on request.
Any businesses interested, can email Shay at [email protected].
