Max Machum started learning Spanish when, at age 7, he and his parents relocated to Guanacaste, in northern Costa Rica, from Alberta Canada’s Rocky Mountains.

By the time he was 12, the Canmore native had pioneered a local effort to eliminate plastic straws from restaurants and hotels to protect Guanacaste’s Pacific beaches and wildlife from the often deadly effects of human pollution.

After Max learned from Nathan Robinson, lead biologist of The Leatherback Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to protected sea turtles, that he had surgically removed a plastic straw from a turtle’s nose, thus saving its life, Max decided he had to do something.

And thus the No Straw Challenge or Sin Pajilla Por Favor, was born.

For the past year, in between studies, travels to Canada for his Dad’s cancer treatments, and time for fun on his boogie board, Max has gone door-to-door in the beach communities in and around Tamarindo, Avellanas and Playa Grande to ask businesses to take on the environmental challenge. So far, he has several takers.

Lola’s restaurant in Playa Avellanas with their commitment to giving back to the community was one of the first to step up. After some research, they located Aardvark in the U.S. who provides them with beautiful custom-designed paper straws. Co-owner Christi Bettinsoli says the company makes the only, “FDA-approved, eco-friendly, chlorine free, biodegradable and compostable straw commercially available.”

Max is featured in a documentary by Linda Booker, Straws: A documentary for a sea of change, one straw at a time, which was recently shown at the Sonoma International Film Festival.

His work has been recognized by the Earth Watch Institute and by Veritas University in San José.

“Every visit to the beach I pick up so much plastic, especially straws!” says Max, whose experience seeing  leatherback and olive ridley turtles nesting and the hatchlings being released was life changing.

The young environmentalist said in an interview, “Did you know it is estimated by the year 2050 when I am 45 there will be more plastic in the ocean than marine life! More than 500 million straws are used in the U.S. alone in ONE day!! After you use a straw it stays on our planet for up to 2.000 years, it never biodegrades, it simply breaks down into smaller and smaller microplastics! Animals on land and sea consume these plastics and die!”

So, the next time you sit down to a delicious meal, whether at the beach or elsewhere, take the No Straw Challenge yourself. Whether it means drinking from the cup directly, or getting up the gumption to share the effort with the restaurant’s owners, you will have taken one step towards making the world a safer, cleaner place.

Hotels and restaurants who seek assistance in ordering paper straws, can feel free to contact Christi at Lola’s at <[email protected]>: “We would very much like to place large orders with a variety of colors and have those readily available for ANYONE who would like to join this endeavor. We would not pass on any extra costs and just try to get the best price available for any and all businesses that want to help protect our beaches, oceans and environment,” said Bettinsoli.