Formal Report Proposal

Introduction

A graphic video of a sea turtle having a plastic straw pulled out of his nose recently went viral, sparking public outcry for the ban of plastic straws. This momentum has caused huge corporations, including Starbucks, to recently promise the complete elimination of plastic straws by 2020. Although plastic straws are only a small portion of the waste that is consistently dumped into our oceans, I believe that it is also the easiest to abolish.

Body Energy Club is a health food store with ten locations across North America, including an online store, which specializes in food, sport supplements, and juice. It employs over 150 employees and is continuing to grow internationally while attempting to maintain their goal of offering the widest selection of products at the lowest price. It’s main competitors in Vancouver are Glory Juice Co., Be Fresh, Jugo Juice, and The Juice Truck.

 

Audience

My audience for this proposal will be the manager at Body Energy Club (Robson location)  due to his ability to introduce paper straws or reusable straws to replace the plastic straws currently in use.

 

Statement of Problem

Body Energy Club offers in-store food in recyclable containers, however they are continuing to service plastic straws with the in-store smoothies and juices. This is contributing to the 500 million plastic straws that are used and discarded every single day according to the data collected by the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. In addition, the Body Energy Club location at Robson and Homer currently does not offer any alternatives to the plastic straw.

 

Proposed Solution

I have brainstormed two possible solutions that are both environmentally friendly alternatives to the usage of the plastic straw. Firstly, I am advocating for the implementation of paper straws.  Paper straws can be made from entirely recyclable and organic materials. However, after conducting some introductory research I realized that the paper straw costs ten times more than the plastic straw to bring into stores. Additionally, some customers claim that the paper straw loses its shape quickly therefore making the drink undrinkable.Therefore, I have come up with an alternate, or secondary solution which is the option of having re-usable straws. Re-usable straws would be available for purchase in-store, where the customers would clean their own and then bring it back each time they return to the Body Energy Club.  

Scope

I will be asking customers and employees the following questions:

• Would you continue to purchase smoothies and drinks from Body Energy Club if they are accompanied by a paper straw versus a plastic straw?
• Would you purchase a reusable straw if you are against the implementation of paper straws?

Methods

I will be conducting primary research at the approval of the Body Energy Club staff to gather data on customers and employees. I will go to the location at different times during different days of the week to ensure I am surveying a broad scope of customers in order to receive accurate results.

 

My Qualifications

I live within the same block as this Body Energy Club meaning that I regularly frequent it and have developed personal relationships with multiple employees, including the current manager. This allows me to be comfortable enough to advocate for the elimination of plastic straws and explain my reasons for doing so.

 

Conclusion

I believe that considering the worlds current environmental state, we as a society need to be taking every possible step available to decrease our amount of access waste. Plastic waste releases harmful chemicals and is continuing to fill up our landfills and oceans. Although plastic straws only make up a fraction of the worlds plastic waste, it is also one of the simplest to eliminate. This would allow future focus to revolve around ending other plastic pollution problems. The elimination of plastic straws at the Body Energy Club in downtown Vancouver would follow in the footsteps of several other successful corporations and would encourage other companies to be more thoughtful about their use of plastic.