Chapel Hill inn the latest to ban plastic straws

According to the Ocean Conservancy, more than 500,000,000 straws are used once and tossed every day in the United States. The group ranks plastic straws as the number five most commonly found items on beaches.

The Carolina Inn is the most recent area business joining the push to stop using straws. Effective immediately, the bar and restaurant at Crossroads will no longer hand out straws or stirrers unless a guest requests one.

Studies show that, because straws are not recycled, they end up in landfills, litter streets, wash into streams and add to the estimated 8.5 million metric tons of plastic debris in oceans annually.

"If eliminating something as small as a plastic straw makes a difference in the right direction, then we want to be part of that chance," said Michelle Voelpel of The Carolina Inn. "We believe every little action leads to greater things."

A few restaurants in Durham and Raleigh have also taken the same step by getting rid of straws altogether or replacing them with paper alternatives.

"Plastic pollutes our ocean, it's killing our marine life," said Voelpel. "If we don't act now, by 2050, there's going to be more plastic in the ocean than fish."