It is something most Australians do and nine-year-old Molly Steer wants it to stop.

The Year 4 student from Cairns in far north Queensland started a campaign to rid her home town and the Great Barrier Reef of single-use plastic straws earlier this year and her plight has since garnered global attention.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 27 seconds 27 s Molly Steer talks with Adam Stephen about the dangers of plastic straws Download 424.9 KB

Molly's Straw No More campaign is quickly gaining momentum and has been taken up by more than 10,000 students across Australia.

It all began when Molly saw a showing of the documentary, A Plastic Ocean with her mother Julianne.

Plastic causing irreparable damage

"[The documentary] was saying how much rubbish is in our ocean and how many animals it kills every day. It made me realise I need to do something," Molly said.

Molly Steer is calling on Australians to help protect turtles and ocean wildlife by cutting out plastic straws. ( Source: plastinography.org )

"All my life I've loved turtles and turtles are most affected by plastic.

"They get straws stuck up their nose and swallow plastic bags and die.

Molly's first step was to stop using plastic straws herself.

"Then I convinced my friends at school to stop and then I also started talking to friends at other schools and my tuckshop too," she said.

Now 16 schools across the state have joined the Straw No More campaign.

"I am trying to get every school in Queensland to join, then one-day every school in Australia," Molly said.

"We use 500 million straws each day. If you lined them up end-to-end they'd wrap around the world four times

Molly Steer spoke at TedX in far north Queensland about her Straw No More campaign. ( Supplied: TedX )

"I want to get rid of all the plastic straws in the world."

Her message to those who still need convincing?

"Don't use straws or else I will hunt you down," she joked.

The science: what makes straws deadly

While exact data is difficult to gather, researchers believe there is up to 236,000 tonnes or 51 trillion plastic particles in our oceans.

Straws are made of polypropylene, a type of plastic that floats, allowing it to travel out to sea easily.

Marine biologist Gareth Phillips said straws were one of the biggest threats to ocean life partly because of their small size.

"They do not break down. They stay in the environment forever and they are toxic," he said.

His regular trips to the Reef mean Mr Phillips sees the devastating effects of plastic waste first-hand.

"There is not one day out at sea where I don't see human litter floating around," he said.

"I have seen seals slowly strangled to death by plastics wrapped around their throats.

"We have polluted every ocean on earth. [By using straws and single-use plastic] we are literally poisoning the planet and ourselves."

Plastic straws can easily make their way into the ocean. ( ABC Radio Melbourne: Simon Leo Brown )

Nine-year-old is a symbol of change

Trained environmental scientist, Bess Murphy, agreed that plastic wasn't just a threat to animals.

"If we started eating plastic, how healthy would we be?" she asked.

"It's not a natural product and causes huge impacts for digestion and the toxins associated with it which migrate through the food chain.

"Humans are a part of that food chain so there are health implications for us as well."

Fast facts about plastic More than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped in our oceans every year.

More than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped in our oceans every year. We are now producing nearly 300 million tons of plastic every year, half of which is for single use.

We are now producing nearly 300 million tons of plastic every year, half of which is for single use. Packaging is the largest end use market segment accounting for just over 40% of total plastic usage.

Packaging is the largest end use market segment accounting for just over 40% of total plastic usage. Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. More than one million bags are used every minute.

Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. More than one million bags are used every minute. A plastic bag has an average 'working life' of 15 minutes.

A plastic bag has an average 'working life' of 15 minutes. Over the last ten years we have produced more plastic than during the whole of the last century. Source: www.plasticoceans.org

Ms Murphy said the most frustrating part about the damage caused by plastic straws was how easily it could be avoided.

"Straws are just not necessary," she said.

"They are a real drama for a lot of coastal areas where people buy drinks from kiosks and cafe. Those straws are so easily making their way into the environment.

"Schools are another big source which is why it's so great that Molly has taken this campaign on.

"The only way we get social change is by people standing up and taking action and Molly is a perfect example of that.

"We don't get legislative changes without the community getting rowdy about it.

"That's why it's everybody's job to be vocal."

Bamboo or steel straws

The first and best option would be to simply ditch straws all together, according to Ms Murphy.

"The vision I would like to see is one where restaurants and cafes have reusable straws available," she said.

"You can get glass, bamboo, or steel straws.

"Another option is paper straws which are still a single use item but are much better than plastic."