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Islamorada Backs Off From Ban On Plastic Straws

plastic straws
Fairywren/Flickr Creative Commons
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WLRN

The Village of Islamorada for now will not join a growing list of municipalities, including Miami Beach, that have limited the use and sale of plastic straws.

Instead, the village will work on a resolution aimed at encouraging restaurants and other businesses to use less plastic, with the ultimate goal of voluntarily eliminating not only plastic straws and stirrers, but also plastic bags, cups, knives and forks, as well as Styrofoam food packages and cups.

“I am 98 percent eco-friendly now, and I wasn’t six months ago,” Councilman Mike Forster, who owns the popular Mangrove Mike’s Cafe, said during the council’s Thursday meeting at Founders Park. “And, it has cost me money and I haven’t passed it on to my customers at this point, and I’m happy about it.”

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