It was Earth Day on Monday, and in the spirit we’re featuring an eco-friendly straw as this week’s featured product! It seems that almost every major travel brand—from airlines to hotel chains to cruise lines and theme parks—are eliminating plastic straws. My hometown of Norwalk, Connecticut, even announced yesterday that it is pursuing an ordinance (with neighboring Stamford) that will ban plastic straws and stirrers outright.
I’m all for reducing my plastic intake and I want be better at it, but so far many of the plastic straw alternatives I’ve seen are made of paper and so not very useful after a few sips (at least for me). But thanks to companies like FinalStraw, it’s getting easier every day to skip the straw…
The FinalStraw reusable straw was featured on Shark Tank and as one of Time‘s “10 Smartest Sustainable Products of 2018.” It’s built of food-grade silicone and food-grade 18/8, 304 stainless-steel materials, which gives it a sleek look, and it’s BPA-free, phthalate-free, and Prop 65- and CPSIA-compliant. With one in your bag, you’ll never need to use a one-time disposable plastic straw again for your iced coffee, milkshake, smoothie, pressed juice, soft drink, water, or whatever.
FinalStraw’s patented design includes an interior drying rack and newly designed silicone squeegee packed into a portable recycled plastic case, which means you can take your straw with you wherever you go. It supposedly sucks beautifully and when extended fits nicely into a glass, cup, mason jar, Yeti, Venti, Hydro flask, Corksicle, or tumbler (I’m not sure what some of those are, but it seems it will work wherever you might need a straw). It’s dishwasher-safe and approved for use by children age three and up.
I know $25 is a lot for a straw—and so do the creators. In fact, on the Amazon page, they write, “WE GET IT, $25 might seem like a lot for a straw. Here’s the thing: we really care about creating a long-lasting, ethically made product. That means higher costs for quality materials and committing to eco-friendly production facilities. Our mission is to create less waste in the world, so we’ve invested in making each FinalStraw a product that will truly last you a lifetime.”
Grab one: Grab a FinalStraw on Amazon for $24.95.
I understand that there are circumstances when straws are needed as when someone is too ill or weak to sit up and drink without spilling it on him/herself; however, in most situations, what is wrong with simply picking up the glass and drinking out of it–no straw needed? People usually manage to drink their coffee or hot tea directly from the cup or mug. The same would work for other drinks.