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Senior Fellow Priyanka Kalra was disturbed by the amount of disposable plastic straws that humankind generates; the sheer uselessness of the object and the mammoth impact the tiny product creates and the unawareness of this impact by users. That’s what inspired Priyanka to create her social media campaign, No Straws Attached.
Priyanka sought to educate the public and restaurants in India on the impact of the plastic straw.
The project addresses the issues of awareness and availability.
Priyanka created a Facebook page with original deliverables and content in order to make sure that it was promoted. Facebook promoted the site for free because of its advocacy focus. Following an online awareness campaign, Priyanka sought to involve the local community in New Delhi, India. She convinced restaurants to refuse to serve straws as a way to stop this impact in its tracks and also encourage a conversation once customers asked about the lack of straws in restaurants.
At first, this was quite difficult as many restaurants did not want to take this on, afraid that consumers would be upset and inconvenienced. To fight this issue, she offered free promotion for them on her Facebook page which had a following of thousands at this point. This quickly shifted the perspective of many restaurants and offered Priyanka a new way to approach local businesses.
In the future, Priyanka hopes to get more restaurants on board and spread the campaign to other parts of India. By building a network of volunteers around the globe Priyanka will be able to create more grassroots initiatives working towards a straw free future.
Offering free promotions on Facebook quickly shifted the perspective of many restaurants and offered Priyanka a new way to approach local businesses.