Zero Waste Shopping: Reusable Straws
When it comes to sustainability getting rid of straws was probably one of the hardest things to remove of my life. (And we sometimes still find ourselves accepting them..) Which is crazy for me to think about, as I was not using that much straws in my life when living in France.
I probably used more straws in the 3 years living in the US than in the other countries I lived in the rest of my life!
It’s not just me. We do (over) use straws in the US. It is a real problem. We use enough straws to wrap the earth’s circumference 2.5 times PER DAY! So much than Seattle just passed a bill outlawing plastic straws.
Straws Are For Suckers (…expect reusable ones :D)
Not saying that they are an issue… I grew to love them in my homemade smoothies, cold lattes (yum), etc. But instead of using the ones made of plastics, how about switching to reusable ones!? That’s what we did, and it was hard for the first 3 months to think about having one in the bag but slowly I changed my mindset, forced myself to think about my cold coffee cup and I forget it less and less. It feels way better for my conscience and our planet. Plus I have a feeling than every time I refuse the plastic one and pull my stainless steel one out of my bad, I’m positively influencing folks around (domino effect kinda thing) wish is a nice feel-good bonus effect of growing your zero-waster kit.
I usually would encourage to buy in thrift store as many things as you could, but we’re talking about straws, a quite personal item that I only recommend to buy new! There are very different option when you switch to reusable, stainless steel, silicone (might be better if you have kids) and yes, plastic (but reusable!). You’ll find different sizes, shapes and even some cute ones with custom chevrons, pineapples… Making the switch even more fun.
If you’ve made the switch, please, send me a picture of your straws in a cool homemade drink or at your coffee shop and post on the Facebook page or tag us on twitter using the hashtag #AGreenerLife! Looking forward to see your pictures!
