Plastic straws: 500 million units used daily in the US | Photo: Horia Varlan/Creative Commons

Did you know that 500 million straws are used daily in the United States? Surfrider Foundation invites us to reduce and ban plastic straws and stirrers from our daily habits.

In 2012, Miami Beach, Florida, became the first US city to prohibit beachside restaurants from using plastic straws. But Surfrider wants a change in the West Coast. And San Francisco could be next.

"Assuming every San Francisco resident uses one straw per day (which is a conservative estimate based on national statistics), over 4,800 pounds per day of plastic straws could be eliminated by a ban in San Francisco," explains the organization led by Chad Nelsen.