Q: What do snorkeling in a national park and having a drink after class have in common? A: You might find a plastic straw in both places.

Trash that is improperly discarded and treated in San José, Costa Rica’s populous Central Valley floats down to beaches on the country’s omnipresent rivers and streams, where it then becomes an often permanent, and deadly, part of marine ecosystems, with plastics taking hundreds of years to break down.

After September at Costa Rica’s National University (UNA, the university’s initials in Spanish) campuses, you will be hard-pressed to find a plastic straw, though, with the institution’s cafeteria board deciding to ban them along with plastic packaging, said a recent report in Elmundo,cr, a Costa Rican news site.

On August 9, the National System of Sodas and Allied Institutions (SISAUNA) agreed to “prohibit the use of straws, coffee stirrers, and disposable plastic packaging in eateries at the National University starting September 1, 2017,” continued the report.

The decision was motivated by environmental concerns: Besides the hundreds of years to takes for plastics to biodegrade, they are produced from fossil fuels derived from petroleum, which – according to SISAUNA – puts pressure on limited non-renewable energy sources, cited the cafeteria board.

The agreement includes promoting the use of compostable, cardboard or biodegradable packaging to pack food to take away, as well as seeking alternatives to other disposable products such as plastic cutlery.

In 2008, the UNA banned the use of styrofoam packaging at all campus eateries, and continues to be a leader in promoting sustainable and environmentally sound practices.