An environmental practice to reduce the use of straws is disseminated in Quito

Ecuadornews:

Gradually reduce the use of straws to make any type of liquid that is one of the good environmental practices promoted by the Secretariat of Environment of the Municipality of Quito.

Those thin plastic utensils, which have become so common, are used for a few minutes, but they take at least 500 years to degrade.

Annually, a restaurant could occupy on average about 45 000 sorbets.

Veronica Arias, Secretary of Environment, says that the fundamental role of the entity that directs is to generate environmental awareness to reduce the use of plastics.

“Our approach in general is the reduction of plastics.We work in the same way with the reduction in the use of the covers, because depending on the type of plastic it takes to dissolve between 500 to 1 000 years, killing ecosystems, especially marine” , the official said.

Therefore, he says, that he works permanently with restaurant chains, hotels and markets to reduce the use of plastic sorbets.

However, many of the establishments that seek to reduce the use of sorbets, have the pressure of customers who ask them to deliver a sorbet.

Carolina Cárdenas is a young student of graphic design, but works in a recognized chain in the capital. She says that many of the customers get upset when they do not see sorbet in their glasses.

“Sometimes, he forgets to put the sorbet on the tray and immediately, they come to ask us to provide one, in fact, dice, we have to change that culture.”

Arias argues that, although it has habits that usually take time to change, it must work continuously and permanently to educate the population on these issues. (I)

Source: http://www.elcomercio.com/tendencias/sorbetes-quito-medioambiente-plasticos-ecosistemas.html