Did you know “No Straw November” was created by Shelby, a Girl Scout in California? Here in eastern Massachusetts, Girl Scouts are taking action to ban single-use plastic straws to help their communities preserve the environment and “make the world a better place!”

Lexington

Cadette Troop 65411 brought their fight against single-use plastic straws to Lexington Town Hall. The Girl Scouts, who have long been advocating for the environment, presented their waste-reducing petition at the annual Town Meeting, and it passed with overwhelming support. Lexington’s new bylaws are designed to reduce waste from grocery stores, restaurants, and other businesses selling food. The Girl Scouts earned their Girl Scout Silver Award for their incredible work!

Mansfield

Chelsea, Claudia, and Lauren of Senior Troop 85101 earned their Girl Scout Silver Awards for their campaign to get town residents to pledge to say “no” to single-use plastic straws: “Plastic-Less Mansfield.” The Girl Scouts appeared at town events with demonstration tables, hosted a screening of “A Plastic Ocean,” and created a Facebook page to help reach a wider audience. “My favorite thing about this project is that I could see people changing their habits and I felt like I was making a real difference in tackling the plastic pollution problem,” Lauren said.

Duxbury

Julia, a Senior Girl Scout, wanted to reduce plastic waste across her school district. By working with her school’s “Green Team” and the organization Sustainable Duxbury, Julia gathered research on the environmental threat of plastic straws, presented a proposal to her principal, and successfully got straws removed from the middle and high school cafeterias. It is estimated that this will reduce use of more than 300,000 straws annually. Sustainable Duxbury also helps spread this message to local restaurants by handing out business cards with URLs to helpful research.

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