5 Reasons to Switch From Plastic Straws to Glass Straws
Kids like straws, and it is actually good for their oral motor development and speech articulation to use them. As a green parent, I hate plastic straws.
They can’t be recycled, they are used one time, and they are a waste of resources. I have purchased the thicker plastic kind before and attempted to wash them, but it is impossible to get them entirely clean. I can only imagine what germs you would see if you cut one open and put it under a microscope! Plastic straws can’t go in the dishwasher, or they melt or release toxic chemicals, and who knows about BPA in straws? I have finely found the eco-alternative to the plastic straw: GLASS!
Glass Dharma’s David Leonhardt’s mission is to “Save the Planet – 1 straw at a time”.
Here are five reasons why you should switch from plastic straws to glass ones:
- » See also: Grow Your Own Tree Hugger: 101 Activities to Teach Your Child How to Live Green
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- Glass Dharma’s straws are handmade in the USA (Fort Bragg, CA)
- Glass doesn’t leak toxins into your beverages
- Glass straws are dishwasher safe making them easy to clean and sterilize
- Glass Dharma straws are guaranteed for life against breakage
- Glass straws won’t end up in our oceans as part of of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Glassblower David Leonhardt explains the importance of switching from plastic to glass straws:
I immediately recognized that here was a partial solution to our “plastics problem”. Now, granted, there are a lot more plastics in our world than just drinking straws, but bear with me a minute and let me put things in perspective …
As of March 2008, McDonald’s serves an average of 52 million meals PER DAY! (Per their website) How many of those served do you think were given a plastic straw? I hope it is becoming obvious just how big of a problem these pesky little plastic straws can be. Remember, this is just from McDonalds!! Get the picture??
These glass straws are so sturdy that I don’t worry about my young children breaking them. I also feel good I can put them in the dishwasher for sterilizing, and they are clear and easy to see that they really are clean. I highly recommend your family switches from plastic to glass straws.
To this day I remember my sister, then about 8 years old, drinking from a glass which cracked, leaving jagged glass at her lips. Why did this happen? Because she had a strange habit of putting her teeth on the glass when she drank. Many kids put their teeth on straws, regardless of how you warn them. Kids will be kids. I would never recommend glass straws for children.
That is a good point Allison. I remember chewing on straws as a child, but I can’t imagine trying to bite a glass one. I guess supervision is needed!
Sorry, this sounds like a really bad idea. I’m all for glass cups, but a straw, being long and thin, seems like a high-risk item to break. Cracking a cup and cutting your lip is bad, but snapping off a straw in your mouth could be deadly. If you insist on giving your kid a straw and don’t want to use plastic, I bet you could find bamboo or aluminum ones.
I am not sure how I feel about the glass straws either. My boys are rough on things and that would be a horrible accident if one were to break in their mouths. We don’t use straws here, but your post does have me thinking about the alternatives.
My Grandbaby has been drinking from the Glass Straws from the glassdharma website as he learns to drink from sippy cups. I don’t give them to him to play with but they are much more durable than I thought and stay out on my counter and the older kids help themselves without supervision. Along with concerns for our enviroment about plastics never breaking down in landfills, I am reading so much about chemical leaching from plastics and the possible effects. There is a controvesly about how harmful these chemicals MIGHT be to our health - no brainer for me! I believe teaching my children how to handle glass is in their best interest, but there are stainless steel straws avaiable for those that have the glass breakage fear. There is also some good information called “the glass difference” in the glassdharma website that explains the process of “borosilicate glass” and the annealing process that strengthens it more and why these straws are soooo sturdy.
I think these are great. I’ve used glass straws in the past, and they’re really difficult to break. Comparing glass straws with glass cups is like comparing apples and oranges. Just because they’re both fruit, doesn’t make them the same.
[...] glass straw or tube from a dismantled ball point pen [...]
That’s fabulas you tree hug’n soccor moms, flood the streets with crack pipes. HELLO! THAT’S WHAT CRACK PIPES ARE!!! GLASS TUBES!!!!
If you weren’t so blinded by your Emperors’ New Clothes complex (GREEN LUVING,OBAMA VOTE’N, WHALE HUGGIN IDEALISTIC GOODIE TWO SHOES)and could actually think for yourself, you might see things logically.
Take your brain back and pull yourself out of the politically correct rectum of the pop culture.
You could not live one single day without all the items in our daily lives that come from the oil and gas industry. There are virtually thousands of items that you use daily or see daily that come from oil and gas. There may be specific items that aren’t, but I garuntee that somewhere in the manufacuring of that item is used a process (machine) that has parts made from oil.
Becareful what you wish for! YOU JUST MIGHT GET IT!!
Tampon applicators are plastic. Maxy pad adhesive comes from oil. Lipstick, foundation, diapers, sippy cups, tires, scrunchy elastic, non-stick cookware and their utensiles, rubber bands etc. etc. etc.
THE EMPEROR IS BUCK NAKED!!! LIKE IT OR NOT!!!!!!!!!!!
Guess what? You are right that lots of things are made from plastic and are necessary. Which is why I find it so important to NOT use things that are made from plastic that are either not necessary or for which there is a not-plastic alternative. This includes glass straws for my family.
My five year old son uses his all the time. And, he throws it on the floor on occasion too. This isn’t a glass straw like your window-pane, it’s more like a pyrex straw. I cannot imagine it breaking. The Glass Dharma straws are incredibly sturdy and safe. Give them a try.
And remember, life isn’t all or nothing. Don’t use that as an excuse to make no efforts or changes at all. Instead, do what you can! Enjoy yourself! Don’t freak out because someone else is making a good change.
I remember glass straws as a child, then they became hard to find due to the breakage issue. Now, they are made much stronger, and I believe they are every bit as safe as, say, drinking from a delicate crystal liqueur glass. So, they are probably not ideal for very young children but they are wonderful for older children and, of course, adults.
In the meantime, I also have a set of sterling silver drinking straws. Safe, and a great and very elegant alternative for children and others.