Monthly Archives: April 2019

Roscommon Town has said ‘this is the final straw’ to plastic, as it becomes the first town in Ireland to go plastic straw free.  To celebrate the initiative, local businesses will be giving customers edible straws this Easter Sunday.  Reusable stainless steel straws with the ‘Plastic Free Roscommon’ brand and paper straws will still be available to customers on request.

Plastic straws have been identified as one of the 10 most common pieces of rubbish polluting our oceans. They cannot be recycled and last for 200 years. With over 30 businesses involved, the Straws Suck initiative has received overwhelming support including from the town’s cafes, restaurants, fast food outlets and cinema. Supermac’s in Roscommon Town is to be the first in Ireland to switch to paper straws.

The Straws Suck campaign started following concern from young and old in the area about the damage single use plastics are having on the environment, and it has received support from the Roscommon Chamber of Commerce, the Roscommon Branch of VFI, and is sponsored by Roscommon County Council.

Caithlin McConn, President of the Chamber of Commerce and manager of JJ Harlows pub says  “we have noticed a 75%-80% reduction in the number of straws used since we joined the Straws Suck campaign as we now only give paper straws to customers on request”.

Suzanne Dempsey, Environmental Education Officer commented that “the switch away from single use plastics requires a change in consciousness and this campaign aims to get people to ‘refuse the straw’ as they are an item most people can do without.”

Brian O’Callaghan, MD of EcoStraws.ie who are providing the eco-friendly alternatives to the plastic straws lauded praise saying “the organisers deserve enormous credit for the proactive approach they have taken with regard to single use plastics, and with the new ethos now engrained in the mindset of the general public, hopefully the campaign will continue beyond the Easter festivities.”

David Mugan, 7, thinks the edible straws are a delicious treat with an important message. “If plastic straws get into the ocean and are eaten by turtles or dolphins, it will kill them so we need to stop using plastic straws,” he urges.

The Straws Suck Campaign is coordinated by Roscommon County Council and local advocacy group Plastic Free Roscommon. It aims to encourage people to reduce their impact on the environment by switching away from single use plastics. Plastic Free Roscommon has gained support from local Tidy Towns groups in Kilteevan, Castlecoote and Roscommon Town who are frustrated with amount of litter that is caused by single use plastic items such as straws, plastic cutlery, coffee cups and plastic bottles.

This campaign has also captured the imagination of young people locally.  Students at the local Roxboro National School helped stick old bottle caps to the Straws Suck float being entered in the Easter Parade by the Roscommon Tidy Towns committee.

A group of secondary school pupils from Kilteevan Tidy Towns were so passionate about the message they approached businesses in Roscommon Town to ask them to support the Straws Suck Campaign and provide customers with straws on request only. They also received 1,000 signatures to a pledge not to use plastic straws.