Milo Cress

10 year-old Milo Cress is a social entrepreneur who founded a project called Be Straw Free to reduce the use and waste of disposable plastic straws in our communities. He encourages restaurants to offer straws to customers instead of putting a straw into every drink automatically and encourages customers who don't want or need a straw to order their drinks without straws. Milo started his project a year ago and has already gained national and international attention: he was recognized by the National Restaurant Assocation, which suggested his Offer-first policy as a "Best Practice" for restaurants nationwide, and was invited to meet with the entire congressional delegation of Vermont, the governor of Vermont, and the mayor of Burlington Vermoont, who became the first mayor to issue a public proclamation declaring the Be Straw Free Offer-first policy as a "Best Practice" city-wide. Last summer Boulder, Colorado and Burlington, Vermont went head-to-head in a "Going Strawless" competition. Milo and his project have been featured on local, regional, national and international press and he has spoken at several events, including Boston University (twice) in the past year. Schools in various countries including Malaysia, Canada and S. Korea have gone "Strawless" after learning about Milo's project. Be Straw Free now has children and adults participating from over 30 countries around the world.