Plastic Straws
Week 6
Plastic Straws
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Last January, my husband and I went to The Bahamas to complete our Scuba Certifications. One night, when we were out to eat, I requested a straw to stir my Piña Colada. The waiter informed me that as of a few days prior, plastic straws had been banned from the country. Read more →
How to Make Bamboo Straws
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Bamboo is a common replacement for single-use plastic and with good reason. It takes little maintenance, grows quickly and at end of life, and it's 100% biodegradable. In this tutorial, I'll show you how to turn one bamboo stalk into a few reusable straws. Read more →
5 Alternatives to Single-Use Plastic Straws
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There are plenty of alternatives to the single-use plastic straw. Here are the pros and cons of five different materials. Of course, if you have any bamboo handy, you could always make your own! Read more →
Letter of the Week: Ask for a "By Request Only" Straw Policy
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This week I learned a lot about the pros and cons of straw bans. As pointed out in every other Week 6 post, there are plenty of pros to banning single-use plastic bags. However, there is one big con: some people with certain disabilities require straws. This is why most plastic straw bans are not actual bans, but "By Request Only" policies. Kathryn Kellog of Going Zero Waste has been writing about waste reduction for years. In fact, she authored "101 Ways to Go Zero Waste" which was the first book I read when I started noticing all of the garbage in my life. In it, she shares the following letter template, to be referenced when requesting that your favorite restaurant apply a single-use plastic straw ban. Read more →