Sipping on a juice or smoothie through a straw has become a habit for many of us, but the humble plastic straw is one of the worst culprits in environmental damage, taking hundreds, sometimes thousands of years to actually break down. So its super important to swap this convenient disposable habit for an eco-friendly alternative so they don’t end up decomposing and leaching harmful gases, including Methane, into landfill, or in the ocean where they’re a threat to marine life.
Straws are just as bad for our waterways as plastic bags, bottles and takeaway coffee cups. A recent report by the World Economic Forum projects that by the year 2050, the plastic in our oceans will outweigh fish!
Thankfully there are organisations large and small banning plastic straws served in their drinks as the world is now struggling to recover from its plastic pollution hangover. This is in part because, for most able-bodies people, the straw is something you can easily do without. But if this is the case, how did they become a part of our everyday lives?
The first “drinking tube”, though used as far back as 5000 years ago, was patented in 1888. Then, with the booming plastic industry after WW2, plastic straws quickly became cheaper to produce and more durable than paper, and they could easily wedge between the crosshairs of fast food restaurant’s takeaway lids without ripping or tearing. And so the mass production of plastic straws began.
Can’t quit straws? That’s ok, there are plenty of alternatives to disposable plastic varieties.
- Bamboo straws are biodegradable so you can compost them once they reach the end of their life.
- Paper straws are available at most café’s that I frequent, but if not, you can purchase them in bulk packs so you always have a fresh one ready to go.
- Stainless steel straws are made from food-grade stainless steel so are durable and lightweight, lasting you for years.
- Glass straws, like the ones featured here, are made of borosilicate glass. It’s one of the most durable, temperature and chemical resistant glass materials in the world. I got mine a few weeks back, and gifted one to a dear friend too. I keep it in my cutlery wrap for work so I can use it for my afternoon pick-me-up fizzy drink (more on that another time). They also come in Smoothie Size….yes, a larger size to help you suck up that extra thick smoothie! Check them out here https://seastraws.com.au
The toughest part is remembering to bring it with you! Making new habits is difficult, but remember how difficult it was to remember your shopping bags? And now we don’t even think about it, it’s a new habit. Keeping one in a cutlery wrap and popping it into your handbag means you’ll never get caught out.
Yes, paper, stainless steel and glass straws are more expensive to produce than plastic, but the environmental cost far outweighs that. Let’s hope that plastic straws will one day be an anomaly.
Little Foot 