Using plastic straws is such a serious environmental issue and not a necessity. While there have already been alternatives being used in the market, they do not function as good as plastic straws.
An example is paper straws. They soften and and dissolve even before you can finish your beverage. Some companies have tried to avoid the use of straws altogether and instead serve their customers with a special lid in order to sip their drinks, but guess what? They are also made out of plastic.
There is a Kickstarter campaign that has a solution to this environmental problem. They have produced a straw made out of sturdy grass which works perfectly with hot and cold beverages and decompose within 15 days. So far, the start-up La Couleur Monochrome has raised $3,606 for this idea. They are looking to raise a total of $27,877 and you can help support this project until the end of January. Even with just donating $6, you can already help out the environment and get 100 straws in a reusable, eco-friendly zip up bag. For higher donations, the start-up offers even bigger rewards.
These innovative straws are made out of hollow-stemmed grass that is harvested in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. After the farmers harvest the grass, they are then cut into 20-centimeter lengths and go through a boiling process for disinfection, without the use of harsh chemicals.
These straws can be bought in two different ways. Buyers can select their dried-out straws which will last up to a year if stored at room temperature, or they can also select fresh straws, which can be refrigerated for as long as six weeks. Both straws can be used for hot and cold drinks, and the only difference is that when using the fresh straws, there is a “a slight scent of fresh cut grass without changing the drink’s taste.”
What is the environmental impact of harvesting this grass? Absolutely none. According to the information about the campaign, this type of grass does a self-regeneration within one year. At present, the company produces one million straws a month, with the hope of increasing their production to ten million by July 2020.
Another change that the start-up wants to make is that, by July, they will only ship out orders once a month in order to put a more sustainable shipping program in place.
With all the changes people need to make to improve the environmental situation, changing the use of straws seems a little bit inconsequential, but it isn’t. It has been estimated that there are from 437 million to 8.3 billion straws that are littering the world’s coastlines at this very moment.
To visualize how much plastic humans have created, it would be an equivalent of 80 million blue whales or 25,000 Empire State Buildings. With all this plastic littering the oceans and seas, only 9% has been recycled. At the rate of plastic waste and use people are going through, it has been predicted that plastic found in the ocean will be more than the fish living in it by 2050.
Using an alternative material for straws is a brilliant solution to reduce single-use plastics in everyday life. To support this Kickstarter idea, check it out in this link:
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