Primary school student making waves with anti-straw campaign


Watching a documentary of baby birds mistaking ocean-drifting plastic for food was the final straw for primary school student-turned-activist Molly Steer.

Deeply affected by the footage, the nine-year-old has launched a campaign to rid local tuckshops of one of the worst offenders in global ocean pollution: single-use plastic straws.

With the catchphrase “Straws Really Do Suck”, Molly’s #StrawNoMore movement aims to protect the Great Barrier Reef from the destruction straws do to oceans and marine life.

"I want all school tuckshops across the Far North to stop supplying plastic straws with drinks,” Molly said.

“We don't need them. I want schoolkids to remind their parents to say no to straws, and then we can ask the local cafes and restaurants to join in too.

"We use straws for just a few minutes before we throw them away, and yet, they will never ever go away.

"Around the world each day, humans use approximately 400 million straws.

“Lined up end to end, these straws reach around the world four times."

Molly, who took to the airwaves this morning to promote her campaign on breakfast radio, said ridding the oceans of straws was especially important in TNQ.

“We are automatically guardians of the Great Barrier Reef.

“It's our job to protect it.

“The plastic rubbish ends up in our oceans and is eaten by fish, birds, and turtles.”

Keep up with the movement on the Straw No More Facebook page here.