Americans are said to use 500 million plastic straws each cay.
Where did the 500 million estimate come from? Someone named Milo Cress who did a telephone survey – when he was nine years old in 2011.
This is said to be the sole source of this estimate, now quoted by politicians, the media, the National Park Service and the National Restaurant Association.
A lot of people accept this number without realizing it means roughly everyone in the U.S. uses two straws every day, which seems unlikely.
Making an assertion about something – in this case, 500M straws per day – is easy to do. As you may know, the root of “number” is “numb” and many brains go numb at the sight of a number. Propagandists like to throw out numbers – because no matter how off the wall they may be – numbers give the message greater authority.
Source: California Considers $1,000 Fine for Waiters Offering Unsolicited Plastic Straws – Hit & Run : Reason.com