Skip the Straw

April 26 – May 2, 2021

Make a choice! Skip plastic straws.

We are saddened that due to COVID-19 we cannot carry out our 2020 Skip the Straw campaign in our supporting workplaces and restaurants, but hope that you individually will commit to and continue to skip single use plastic straws.

Skip the Straw is a call to action for schools, students, restaurants, bar managers, coffee shops, and the general public.

Please join us in reducing plastic straw usage

• Americans use and discard over 500 million straws per day. That’s enough to wrap around the world 2.5 times everyday. 

• The fewer plastic straws we use, the fewer will end up in landfills, on our beaches or in our rivers, streams and oceans, negatively impacting water quality and aquatic life. 

• It’s easy! Just say, “No Straw, Please!” 

Take the Pledge

Take the pledge and join us in reducing plastic straw usage. We hope you’ll consider pledging for the whole year, but as little as one day can help make a difference!

Individuals, families and schools

Restaurant and business owners and managers

Participating Businesses

• Alexander’s Steakhousee

• Avanti's/Rockwood

• Avanti's /Knoxville

• Avanti's/Main

• Avantis/East Peoria

• Avantis/Pekin

• Bradley University

• Caterpillar/Eurest

• City of Peoria

• Dunlap CUSD #325

• Edge

• Gebby's

• Hearth

• Illinois American Water

• Ivy Club

• Jimmy John's/Metro

• Jim's Bistro

• Kelleher's Irish Pub and Eatery

• Kouri's Peoria

• Kouri's-Pekin

• Naturally Yours

• Nick and Willy's

• One World

• Obed & Isaacs

• Olivers/Prospect

• Peoria Academy

• Peoria Civic Center

• Peoria County Health Dept. Employees

• Peoria County Sustainability Employees

• Peoria Regional Learning Center

• Rhythm Kitchen

• Schooners

• Shelton's

• Subway - Metamora

• Subway - Germantown Hills

• Subway - Elmwood

• Subway - Farmington

• Suite Fire Bar & Grill

• The Lariat

• The Publik House

• The Rail Splitter

• W E Sullivans

Why skip the straw?

Every year Americans use an estimated half a billion plastic beverage straws. The plastic straws we use for a few minutes then toss, are adding substantially to the tons of plastic waste buried in landfills. Plastic disposables are leaching into the environment and discharged into the ocean and lakes every year. Plastic straws are commonly found on beaches and biologists are finding straws in the bodies of marine life. Plastic straws do not biodegrade like organic matter but break down into smaller and smaller pieces that clog the ocean and get consumed by marine life—little straws are a big problem. Getting a handle on the problem may simply require those who serve beverages to adopt a straw on request policy and for each of us to skip the straw. Not only is it a money saver for businesses, but it can save our oceans, marine life, and natural resources.

So join us and Skip the Straw, and consider committing to the skip for the other 364 days of the year.

Additionally, we should all start thinking about how we can reduce our consumption of other single use plastics like detachable plastic bottle caps, disposable plastic drink lids, and plastic bags.

Start doing whatever you can to help stop single use plastic, and Skip the Straw!