As plastic in oceans becomes more problematic each day, the university is trying to help keep the ocean cleaner by introducing the Skip the Straw Campaign.
The Skip the Straw Campaign comes from the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation and the Foundation Dining Services. A notice to students about the campaign was sent in a dining updates email on March 7 of this year.
Skip the Straw signs were placed at all locations that sell food on campus. The sign has a sketch of a turtle in the ocean and it reads, “Come together and help us make a strawless ocean.”
David Corral, associate director of Foundation Dining Services, said students were a big reason the campaign was introduced.
“Because of student movement and the ASI (Associated Students Inc.) sustainability group on campus, we felt it was the right time and direction to do this,” Corral said.
Students on campus agreed the campaign is a good idea.
Jennifer Cervantes, a second-year animal health science student, said she liked the campaign’s mission.
“The campaign is good because you’re helping sea life by not polluting the ocean with plastic,” Cervantes said. “We should be doing more of this type of stuff on and off campus.”
As to whether the campaign would be an inconvenience to some students, both Cervantes and Corral said it would not be a major problem to students because there are other ways for students to enjoy their beverages without using straws.
Arielle Torrez, marketing assistant for the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, said plastic straws are not the only forms of pollution hurting marine life.
“A variety of man-made plastic articles, such as plastic bottles thrown into the ocean, affect the entire animal system as a whole,” she said.
Torrez said Foundation and Dining Services will try to do more to keep the oceans cleaner and try to make the school adopt more sustainable practices, which she described as an important mission.
“For now, we’re advertising the Skip the Straw Campaign by putting up signs around the school and on the Dinning Services social media pages, but this is just the start of it,” Torrez said. “We’re starting with straws, but we want to become more sustainable all around.”