BUFFALO, N.Y. — The push to reduce the amount of plastic waste in waterways was highlighted on Sunday, at of all places, at Sahlen Field in downtown Buffalo.
The Aquarium of Niagara was invited to Sunday's Bisons game to present one of its educational programs, called Skip the Straw, which encourages fans to demure on taking a straw for their beverages and help clean up the environment.
"One of the things we're trying to do is to approach this with a two-pronged effort." said Gary Siddall, the executive director of the Aquarium of Niagara.
"The first is dealing with the consumer directly providing education about problems associated with single-use plastic straws, but the other part is the vendor, so we're trying to communicate to avoid even offering the straw unless it's specifically requested for a medical reason or something like that. There's an education opportunity with the vendor as well."
Those who skipped the straw got discount aquarium passes. It's estimated that nearly 8 million tons of plastic enter the world's oceans every year.