Plastic vs. Stainless Steel Drinking Straws: Who Wins?
Plastic pollution has created countless issues in relation to the environment, the health of humans, and animal safety. While plastic products offer us convenience at cheap prices, the long-term consequences are proving to be costly, toxic, and have placed the planet in a difficult position environmentally.
When eating out, picking up your favorite iced coffee, or sipping your beverage of choice at home, you’re most likely reaching for straw. That straw is likely to be used once, and thrown away. Out of sight, out of mind. This is a simple and standard practice that most never question.
However, once you become enlightened to the serious facts and figures of the damage something as small as a plastic straw can cause, we are confident you will never want to use one again.
Let’s break it down.
Every single day in the United States alone, about 500 million plastic straws are used and discarded. You read that right. Not thousand, million. Those straws are either sent to a landfill, or make their way into the environment, including the ocean.
You may be asking yourself by now, but what about recycling? Surely plastic straws are recycled, how bad can they really be? This is a fair perspective many people have, but it is misguided and frankly, incorrect. Of all plastics sent to be recycled in the United States, 9% are recycled on average. This percentage has stabilized since roughly 2012, despite increased awareness about recycling and plastic pollution.
The reason being is because of the size of plastic straws, they are often not accepted at recycling centers for processing. They can easily jam machines, and the energy required to recycle them is not worth the end recycled product, which greatly decreases in value from a manufacturing perspective. Due to this, plastic straws are an environmental catastrophe. They are among the top 10 contributors to plastic marine debris across the globe. Plastic is a convenient but toxic material in many ways. Plus, plastics never fully degrade, they break down into smaller and smaller pieces of plastics, known as microplastics.
So what can be done?
A simple swap of plastic straws to reusable stainless steel straws is one of the best ways to limit your plastic waste and reduce your impact on the environment. It may seem like one person making this a lifestyle change will not have a great overall effect, but if thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of people choose to make the switch, this is where things get exciting.
While stainless steel straws cost a bit more upfront, they will save you money over time as they will last a lifetime if taken care of! They are dishwasher safe and easy to clean, and will not leach toxic chemicals into your body and the environment. Aesthetics seem to be a growing interest for environmental switches. Stainless steel straws are much more pleasing to the eye, and have a more luxurious feel.
Stainless steel straws make excellent stocking stuffers and gifts for friends and family, and are great environmental conversation starters! Plus, stainless steel straws will not cause the degree of harm or lasting environmental contamination if they are accidentally thrown away or lost into the environment.
Make the switch, today.
