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When Molly was 9 years old, she went to see a movie called ‘A Plastic Ocean.’ She learnt that plastic never breaks down and that our oceans all over the world are filling up with plastic. And worse still, animals are confusing the plastic for food, eating it and getting sick.
Molly started thinking about ways she could help the sea animals. She thought of all the different types of plastics and decided to start by picking one. Inspired by a video of a turtle with a straw stuck up its nose, Molly decided to focus on plastic straws. This is when StrawNoMore was born. For the initial launch of her campaign, Molly decided to start by focussing just on her school.
Her first step was to email her school principal to organise a meeting. He replied and they set up a meeting in which Molly asked him if they could stop using plastic straws at school. Molly explained there was no need to use straws at school and that they harmed the environment. Her principal was convinced and the school stopped using straws! Next, schools in the area found out about Molly’s plan and they wanted to join. Before Molly knew it, schools on the other side of the world had contacted her too!
In 2018, Molly was named Cairns Young Woman of the Year. In her thank you speech, Molly encouraged the Mayor of Cairns to strive for Cairns to become the first plastic straw free council in Australia. The Mayor accepted the young girl’s challenge and agreed to phase out plastic straws. Molly’s determination is inspiring. She is committed to completely getting rid of plastic straws and will not stop until she has succeeded. Despite having achieved great success so far, Molly says, ‘My job isn’t done yet. I am going to keep going until plastic straws are out of every school in Cairns, in Queensland, in Australia, and maybe one day in the world.’
