How many straws are used in the United States each day? If they were connected, would they wrap around the earth at the Equator? In one year, would the length of straws reach the moon? How many times? What is the volume of this plastic for one year? How deep would it be on a football field?
This activity was written for middle and high school math teachers and their students.
In this blog below you will see the Student Activity followed by the Teachers Notes and Solutions. Both of these are available to be downloaded in pdf from this link for 2023: Plastic Straw Activity
The solutions were done with a TI-84 CE but could also be done with a TI-84 or TI-Nspire. We hope this provides a good mathematics lesson along with social awareness for the environment.
Starbuck’s to halt plastic straw use by 2020
Washington Post article that plastic straws are bad for our bodies, too.
tomreardon3 
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