The Colorado Restaurant Association, which represents nearly 11,000 food and drink locations, backs a bipartisan state bill that would prohibit sit-down establishments from handing out plastic straws unless a customer asks for one.

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The Colorado Restaurant Association, which represents nearly 11,000 food and drink locations, backs a bipartisan state bill that would prohibit sit-down establishments from handing out plastic straws unless a customer asks for one.

Creative Commons

There’s something missing at Centro Mexican Kitchen in Boulder. Once you take a seat, a waiter brings a glass of water, but no straw. Ask for one and you’ll get a paper straw.

The traditional plastic version is nowhere to be found.

“We’re trying to reduce the plastic landfill issues we’re all having,” said Dave Query, who owns Centro and about a dozen other Front Range restaurants. “This problem is just getting bigger and bigger, and so this is our tiny little effort at helping.”

Straws have become Public Enemy No. 1 in the global fight against plastic waste. Plastics now show up in the ocean, sea creatures and even human waste. Activists have singled out straws as a reasonable way for people to take action.

Read the rest of the story at Colorado Public Radio.