Drinking Straws: Getting to the Bottom of It
July 10, 2009 by Alicia
Filed under Lunch Gear, Safe Drinking Straws, Shopping Guides
Okay, we’ve muddled through baby bottles, sippy cups, dishes and the like – now what about drinking straws? Once we started looking at all of the plastic that comes into contact with our food, we eventually realized that we’re surrounded by straws too. And if it comes in contact with our mouths or our food, we’re going to get to the bottom of it!
A Little History on Straws
With a little research, we learned that straws have quite a history of their own. Early on, natural rye grass straws were used by beer-drinking Sumerians as filters for solid particulate byproducts of fermentation. In 1888, Marvin Stone patented the spiral winding process to manufacture the first wax-coated paper drinking straws which were made by hand. In the 1900′s with the advent of machinery, the ability to automate spiral-wound straws opened the door to the invention of plastic straws.
Plastic Straws
Surprisingly, there are quite a few different types of straws, so we decided to look at the most prolific straw used – the fast food style straw. The first plastic straws were made using polystyrene (#6), but now polypropylene (#5) or polyethylene (#2) is favored over polystyrene, because polystyrene is brittle and tends to crack easily (just like the famous red Solo-type cups). One anecdotal way you can tell what type of straw you’re drinking from is to see whether it sinks or floats: polystyrene is denser than water, causing straws to sink when placed into liquids. Polypropylene straws are much more flexible, durable and do not sink. Of course this method is not fool-proof so if in doubt, contact the manufacturer directly to find out what materials are used.
The good news: most of the current straws are made from either #2 or #5 plastic, the concern about toxic chemical exposure is low.
The bad news: environmentally speaking both #2 and #5 plastics are recyclable, but most people don’t recycle and McDondald’s alone served over 50 million meals in 2008! Can you imagine the sheer number of straws laying in the landfill?
Alternative Straw Options
- Aardvark Paper Straws
- Bamboo Straws
- Decorative Borosilicate Glass Straws by Glass Dharma
- Bendy Borosilicate Glass Straw by Glass Dharma
- Festive Pyrex Glass Straws by Glass Paradise
- Bendy Stainless Steel Straws by RSVP
- Compostable PLA Corn-based Straws by Nature Works
There are so many non-disposable alternatives that will help put a dent in that landfill! The handmade glass straws by Glass Dharma and the stainless steel straws by RSVP will be available at The Soft Landing soon. Until then, you can click on each of the images above to see where to buy them.
Although nondisposable straws are a great idea… I'm still perplexed as to how you would keep them clean – the inside that is.
Hi Cindy,
We clean our with Dr. Brown's vent cleaning brushes the same way we do our sippy cup valves and such. They work great!
You can find them at our store http://thesoftlanding.com/drbrclbr4pk.html
Alicia
The timing of this post is perfect! I was just in a store yesterday and saw straws on the counter. I was hoping they were glass but instead, they were just decorated plastic ones.
I'm looking forward to seeing the Stainless Steel Straws up on your site so I can buy a few!
Now that our township has single-stream recycling, I have been recylcing my husbands straws despite the fact I didn't know what they were made of. I am intriegued by the bamboo ones! Not as delicate as glass, nicer on the teeth than stainless? Once again, thanks for the timely research and post!
Hi! Just wanted to let you know that we over at KIWI Magazine's blog, KiwiLog, loved your post and decided to feature it in our weekly mom blog round-up!
Cheers!
Hi Kirstin,
So glad you found the info useful! It was something we've need to tackle for sometime now. Locating the stainless steel straws for our store has been tricky too, but our shipment will be on its way soon!
Alicia
Hi Joh,
Sounds like you had the right idea recycling your straws after all! So glad you found the info helpful. We'd love to hear how you like the bamboo straws if you decided on them, as we've never had the chance to try them ourselves.
Alicia
In fear of what danger lurked in straws, we finally just recently taught our daughter to drink from a big-girl cup (no straw!) but I'm thankful to know that our occasional straw use isn't harmful. We try to just not use one, but sometimes when we're on the go, it's just so much easier…and spill-safe.
Good to know that they can be recycled! Thanks Alicia
In fear of what danger lurked in straws, we finally just recently taught our daughter to drink from a big-girl cup (no straw!) but I'm thankful to know that our occasional straw use isn't harmful. We try to just not use one, but sometimes when we're on the go, it's just so much easier…and spill-safe.
Good to know that they can be recycled! Thanks Alicia
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