RUNNING HEAD: Skip The Straw 1

Skip the Straw: College Students Attitudes Toward Plastic Straw Usage

Branee Taylor, David Somers, Michelle Koop,

Angelica Estrada, and Gerardo Hernandez

California State University, Stanislaus

Skip the Straw: College Students Attitudes Toward Plastic Straw Usage
2
Introduction

When we were presented with this project we all decided pretty quickly that the best

topic to research was the usage of plastic straws. Recently here at Stan State we have take a large

stance against plastic straws. This he led to the removal of plastic straws in all eating areas and

replacing them with paper straws. We ended up with a couple different research questions to

focus of study on. The first question we wanted to answer was are college students more likely to

not use a straw or use a reusable straw. The second question we wanted to answer was do

students support having a straw ban in their area. We will discuss this later in our results section.

To begin our research we used several different electronic databases through our school library

such as EBSCO and JSTOR. We used keywords such as; Group (and) recycle, Plastic usage

(and) Recycle (and) College Campus, Behavior (and) Recycle and, Attitude (and) Recycle (and)

college. With these keywords we received over 14,000 results towards our topic. From these

results we decided on five main articles that helped us explain our research and educated us

better on plastic usage.

The 5 articles we decided on were Sustainability, one sip at a time. University Business

by Zalaznick, M, A Brief History of How Plastic Straws Took over the World by Sarah Gibbens,

Glass Straws? Straw Straws? Here Are Some Eco-Friendly Alternatives to Plastic by David

Carrig, Monitoring the Abundance of Plastic by Ryan, Moore, Van Franeker, & Moloney, and

Biodegradable and Compostable Alternatives to Conventional Plastics by Song, Murphy,

Narayan, & Davies. These articles helped us understand the popularity of reusable straws and

helped shape our research questions. We also used these articles to help shape our survey

questions that guided our research.

Skip the Straw: College Students Attitudes Toward Plastic Straw Usage
3

Methods & Analysis

Our data was collected using Qualtrics. Our entire survey was done throughout the

Qualtrics server. During the early brainstorming stages of the process we decided to focus on the

plastic epidemic facing marine life. We decided to focus on the “Save the Turtles” campaign due

to the impact of the video shown all over social media of a turtle having a plastic straw out of its

nose. We decided to stick to the project timeline. I will show the timeline of the project in a table

and cover how much progress we made with each step.

Mini # 1 The first assignment was about

Due Date: March 26 planning the project and figuring
out what we are going to do.
Groups were assigned and formed
in class and also on Blackboard.
The first draft of the website was to
be due that day. Each website was
supposed to have the following
tabs: Research Project Plan, Contact
Us, Annotated Bib, and Research
Questions. Each tab was expected
to have information that would
suffice enough for the stages of an
early project. The final step of the
first mini was to upload the link to
blackboard.
Skip the Straw: College Students Attitudes Toward Plastic Straw Usage
4

Mini # 2 The second installment of the

Due Date: April 23 project was to present the
“Assignments” tab to our class.
Each group was assigned to use the
Qualtrics server to create a consent
form. Each survey needed to have a
consent form in order for the
participants to have access to prior
to taking the survey. The next tab
that has to be added is “Survey
Questions”. Each survey is
supposed should have ten survey
questions based upon the questions
earlier in the brainstorming process.
This is also the stage of the project
to invite at least 20 participants to
take your survey. Due to us having
6 members in our group, we all
agreed to have at least four people
take the survey. We also
encouraged one another to post the
survey link to our individual social
media accounts as well to bring
more participants to our survey.

Mini # 3 In addition to the third installment

Due Date: April 30 of the project the groups were
expected to share the early stages of
their project and the results of their
survey. A results tab is required to
be added to the web page and
should include a quick summary of
our results. During the presentation
each group should give a
demonstration of their survey to
show the class that they have met
all the requirements of the project
thus far.
Skip the Straw: College Students Attitudes Toward Plastic Straw Usage
5

Final Website The final installment of the project

Due Date: May 14 is the final website. The final tab
that should be added is the research
summary which is a compilation of
all the data that we collected
throughout the process of the
surveys. Each member of the group
is expected to help with the paper
and have been assigned a section to
work on to show that we have
worked together collectively as a
group to show our work. The paper
must be submitted to the website in
APA format and sorted by section.

Group Presentation Along with the final submission of

Due Date: May 14 the website each group will be
required to present their total data.
Each presentation is expected to be
10-12 minutes long at a minimum.

Participants & Demographics

Due to two other groups also focusing on the same topic we decided to just have an open

participant pool. Our demographics were people in ranging from twenty to thirty. We didn’t

focus on a specific age group or a specific job field. Most of our participants have a college

education to some sort. Most of us spread the word to our friends so most of the participants

were young college students that most likely live in the Central Valley.

Measures Used
The measures that we used throughout our survey ranged from highly likely to highly

unlikely, satisfied to unsatisfied, and the usual yes and no answers. During the process of the
Skip the Straw: College Students Attitudes Toward Plastic Straw Usage
6
survey we did have to bring our answering down some because there were too many answering

options.

Results

Bill Nye the Science guy would want you to take care of the planet Earth, and it’s as easy

as changing a couple of our habits when heading out to eat at a restaurant. It is as simple as

committing ourselves from using plastic straws and looking for an alternative such as a reusable

straw. Did you know? Over 500,000,000 plastic straws are used everyday by the citizens of the

United States. We have been accustomed to expect a straw every time we go out to eat, but these

plastic straws are hurting the ocean ecosystem. We can’t make this change of direction by taking

action by ourselves, but united together, we can save the planet from straw contamination.

Our team conducted surveys from over a hundred people, and we came up with these

statistics. Are people willing to use plastic straws compared to reusable ones? Out of 100

participants 82% of people said yes. Our survey indicates this is a good step towards the future of

straw alternatives. When the participants were asked if they would be supportive of banning

straws in their area, out of 100 participants 83% were in favor. With this new adaptable mindset

of getting rid of plastic straws our data shows people are willing to make a change in the

environment.

When asked if people would be open to buying reusable straws there was a notable change in

participation. Only 49% of participants would buy a reusable straw, while 37% were neutral and

14% would not purchase their own straw.

We realized the general public is willing to make a change for the environment, but we

also figured when participants spend money, they are less willing to make change for the
Skip the Straw: College Students Attitudes Toward Plastic Straw Usage
7
environment. This is similar to when California first started charging 10 cents per plastic bag.

Only when the public starts getting charged for the bags they consumed there was a drop in

plastic bag use. The results indicate that a majority of people support the plastic straw ban, as

long as it doesn’t impact them directly, or financially. We can now use this research to help us

find the most effective way to mitigate the harm that will be done to the environment. Our

research results indicate that one of the best ways to address the plastic straw issue is to require

restaurants to provide reusable straws, as the majority of the public vastly supports the plastic

straw ban, and were willing to use a reusable straws when provided. So one of the finest

techniques to mitigate the plastic straw waste in the environment would be addressing the largest

providers of plastic straws in the world; restaurants. Our results will hopefully bring light to the

subject of plastic in our oceans, and make a change in the food industry that will help future

generations to come.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the theoretical implications found from our findings is that by

having a ban of straws in California it created as a result in shift of action in the usage

of reusable straws, primarily by college students. We also can make a theoretical

implications that although some individuals do not use reusable straws in their everyday

life, there thought process does show that they are aware they need to make a shift in

purchasing their own reusable straw, plastic or metal, do help better the environment

although it is not said directly.

When it comes to empirical implications we saw how in today’s society social

media and influencers are all around. However, those who took the survey showed how
Skip the Straw: College Students Attitudes Toward Plastic Straw Usage
8
they felt that if a social media influencer tried to promote a reusable straw, it would not

sway them to purchasing one of their own, this finding was very surprising, and maybe

subconsciously a social media influencer could make that sell even though the

consumer would not see it that way. Another empirical implication was how the

individuals who took the survey shared that when they used a reusable straw, as a

result they felt satisfied from the usage of a reusable straw, yet how would that

satisfaction change from using no straw at all.

The limitations of our survey were not knowing if participants gave dishonest

answers based on wanting to be socially accepted even though the survey was

anonymous. This is caused by them internally thinking about the answers we wanted to

have for our research project. Lastly, we also have the limitation of not having the

participants write out why they selected the answer they chose in depth. For example, if

using a reusable straw made them feel satisfied in what way? Because they are saving

the turtles? Or because they still had the satisfaction of using a straw for their drink?

In the future, the direction of the research should have set grounds for who can

answer the questions. For example, a specific college or state to answer about reusable

straws. That way the research can be attributed to a certain location instead of a

generalized group of individuals. Along with getting written statements from participants

to share their feelings of the topic with more detail to be able to explain answers with

concrete evidence vs. just making theoretical implications.

Skip the Straw: College Students Attitudes Toward Plastic Straw Usage
9

References

ZALAZNICK, M. Sustainability, one sip at a time. University Business, [s. l.], v. 21, n. 7, p. 16,

2018. Disponível em

Gibbens, Sarah. “A Brief History of How Plastic Straws Took over the World.” Plastic Straw

Bans

Are Spreading: Here's How They Took over the World, 3 Jan. 2019

Carrig, David. “Glass Straws? Straw Straws? Here Are Some Eco-Friendly Alternatives to

Plastic.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 25 May 2018

Ryan, P., Moore, C., Van Franeker, J., & Moloney, C. (2009). Monitoring the Abundance of

Plastic Debris in the Marine Environment. Philosophical Transactions: Biological

Sciences,364 (1526), 1999-2012.

Song, J., Murphy, R., Narayan, R., & Davies, G. (2009). Biodegradable and Compostable

Alternatives to Conventional Plastics. Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences,364

(1526), 2127-2139.