Charleston sucks, but local bars and restaurants are working to change the straw culture

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) - Starting Tuesday, Charleston bars and restaurants are taking the Strawless Summer Challenge. It’s a call to change a mindless habit: using plastic straws.

The challenge runs through August. It’s spearheaded by groups like the Charleston Surfrider Foundation, Charleston Restaurant Association, Charleston Bartender’s Guild, 5 Gyres Institute and the Lonely Whale Foundation.

“How many times have you sat down and ordered a glass of water and they bring it to you with a straw?” said Kate Dittloff, chair of the Charleston chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. “You don’t even have the chance to say, ‘No.’”

Dittloff said plastic straws are one of the biggest items of waste and pollution in the food and beverage industry. It’s harmful to waterways, marshes and wildlife.

“We have 360,000 residents (in Charleston County),” Dittloff said. “If you multiply that number by the average number of straws that people use on a given day (which) is 1.6, that means 660,000 straws are being used in Charleston County every single day.”

Macintosh on King Street is up for the challenge. It's one of roughly 25 places that have signed up.

Bartender Megan Deschaine said it’ll still serve straws, but only upon request.

“There are lots of cocktails that require straws, that’s another thing as a bartender, a frozen drink - how do you drink a frozen drink easily?” Deschaine said. “There are solutions, so we’re trying to find our way with paper and metal.”

While it’s hard to break habits, she hopes the summer challenge will eventually change consumer behavior.

“To think that plastic straws weren’t even invented before the '60s, our culture evolved to that expectation, so I truly believe it’s not going to happen overnight, but we can start planting seeds,” she said.