A heartbreaking image of an olive ridley sea turtle in pain due to a plastic straw embedded in its nostril. (Screen capture from video by Christine Figgener)

I’m sure most of us have seen or recognise this image of a plastic straw stuck in the nose of a sea turtle. It was this very incident in 2015 that woke the world up to a plastic crisis in the ocean and sparked the anti-plastic movement. Numerous companies like Starbucks and McDonald’s have successively pledged to eliminate plastic straws worldwide. Countries such as Canada and Peru are implementing restrictions on single-use plastics. Since then, there has been a trend of using other non-plastic alternatives for straws, like the metal, paper and even bamboo straws. Now when you think of plastic straws, this voice immediately echoes in your head, “save the turtles”!

Not just straws, but even plastic forks could get lodged in the nostril of a turtle!

You might think that plastic straws getting stuck in the nose of turtles does not happen very often, and it is true that many other marine animals are affected by plastics in the ocean. Perhaps the fact that the object which caused hurt was the most harmless of all plastics, the frequently used straw, it snaps us out of the illusion that our very one plastic item that we dispose of carelessly, would never cause an animal to suffer. In a good way, this single straw incident that fuelled the anti-plastic movement could be the start of a more considerate and mindful society for our planet.

Click here to read on about the current efforts and challenges of sea turtle conservation and how we can do better to save the turtles!