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.
Ho hum, Pete Miller. Your post might even be taken seriously if you could spell. Thanks to spell-check, there are no excuses for such sloppiness.
Unfortunately, the possibility of readers believing you might actually have an intelligent comment to make is lost once they encounter “soccor”; garuntee”; “utensiles”, and the multiple typos and other ignorant-appearing writing in your post.
You are a typical product of the style-is-irrelevant generation. It is a shame, because you might actually have a brain and some good points. Too bad the really educated people will never bother to listen to you or take you seriously.
i use cloth pads, and a silicon Diva cup! cloth diapers, and duh rubber and stretchy fabrics are made with latex which comes from trees! this is a life style for my family, not a fad. my son is 9 yrs old and we used cloth everything before it was trendy.
i think you are right, there are TONS of things that we use everyday that use oil, gas, plastic and we don’t even know it (i’m on a computer right:) i drive a regular minivan… i don’t make things hard on myself (sometimes we use paper plates…) but i try to not be lazy, and to raise my kids with the habits of using re-usable items instead of disposible everything… (they sell disposible wash cloths for bath time with soap in them already… it just blows my mind that someone would rather pay money for this then just use a plain old wash cloth! ) we use regular toilet paper, not re-usable cloths, but i know families who DO!
we all just want to do what is best for your family, i don’t preach this stuff to other people we just like doing things this way ( we have a reel mower this year, and man it sure beats puling that dang cord, and listening to a mower run for an hour while we mow the lawn, and it doesn’t have stinky fumes, or have engine breakdowns… we only paid $100 for it on amazon….
There will be very little water getting into the core of the straw. Hardly sterilizing. Not that it’s a big deal, but don’t think everything you put in a dishwasher gets “clean”.
Also the energy consumed in making a glass straw is significantly higher than a plastic one. How much, I’m not sure, but it’s not a 1 to 1 thing. The energy needed to make a glass straw would be boxes of plastic ones.
Sheldon
[...] you’re in the comfort of you’re own home it’s even better! Why not reuse some plastic water bottles and make this quick, simple and fun [...]
sirs: I need info on glass straws - diameter/price. Thanks, DLM
I have used some glass straws and they are awsome, it does take some pressure to break them, we have tested it… I let my 2 and 3 year old try em out but they didnt like the fact that it didnt bend. I think they are more for parties and such. It would be nice if they sold decorative ones and different colors..
Hmmm - I am amazed at how negative people can be - concerns over glass straws? I would pay more attention to what is ingested - kids are drinking colas (poison), sugar (poison), white bread, white pasta, energy drinks (how the FDA allows sugar and caffeine to be called energy is beyond me) and all the other garbage parents feed their kids should be their # 1 concern.
Hurray to glass straws - just tell little Johnny and little Jane not to bite the glass straw because it will cut your mouth (I think they will get it). If you give a 2 - 4 year old a glass straw then who is the fool.
Congrats on a great idea.
K
Why not make the old time paper drinking straws? Much simpler since you only use them once
I agree that today’s straws are much more durable than the straws made of less durable glass; as was the case years ago. As one reader mentioned, pyrex glass straws don’t break when dropped on a hard surface. I agree with another comment that said if there is an alternative to plastic, we should use it. Glass straws would qualify here. The risk to children is always present in life - unless they are properly looked after.