Paper, bamboo and edible: restaurants are looking for alternatives to plastic tubing

In the United States, as well as in the world, they increasingly began to think about the dangers of plastic, especially drinking straws. For example, a recent law in California forbade waiters to put a plastic tube, if the client did not ask for it. Restaurants and cafes have to look for an alternative. For example, to put a paper tube or bamboo, and there are altogether edible options that can be eaten at the end. Chicago Tribune tells about the history of this movement, the experience of other countries and the protest of customers.

Фото: Depositphotos

South Africa, Costa Rica, and Thailand have also joined this movement, replacing plastic tubes with bamboo, wood, or paper.

“We have so much plastic waste on our beaches, so we know we need to do something,” said Emma Iacono, co-owner Ylang Ylang Beach Resort in Montezuma, Costa Rica. “We’re trying to eliminate as much plastic as possible.”

The resort stopped using plastic straws almost two years ago. Now they order tubes from biodegradable plastic.

“Some people are angry, but most people understand why we're doing this,” Iacono said, adding that the resort has shown progress by replacing 500 plastic straws a week with 25 made from biodegradable plastic.

By some estimates, Americans are throwing out 500 millions of plastic straws per day. The movement against plastic, which is constantly growing, has become more active after the video, published three years ago. In that video, they showed a sea turtle with a plastic straw stuck in its nose.

With a poet Walt Disney World banned plastic straws in some of its theme parks, and the Smithsonian Institution took steps to eliminate them from its museums. Even celebrities have responded to this video: actor Adrian Grenier and defender Seattle Seahawks Russell Wilson refers to those who oppose the use of plastic straws.

“Can humanity survive without plastic straws? I think so,” said celebrity chef and Washington restaurateur José Andrés.

But his clients do not always agree with him.

Back in 2010, Andres replaced plastic straws with paper straws in his restaurants in Washington. As a scuba diver, he became one of the first witnesses of the influence of plastic straws on the environment and wanted to contribute to the reduction of plastic waste.

But none of the customers liked the paper straws, and the bartenders wanted to quit because of it. “It was terrible,” Andres recalls.

He had to return to the use of plastic straws, but he again tried to abandon them several years later.

Now he decided to compromise: customers will not get plastic straws unless they specifically ask for them by paying 5 percent.

In the mini bar José andrés - where food costs $275 per person, not including drinks - sometimes cocktails are served with straws made of wood, metal, glass.

“The straw is a human invention that, for some reason, we fell in love with,” Andres said. “But it’s beautiful to drink straight from a glass, it’s the most elegant thing.” Why do you need a piece of plastic?

According to those serving restaurants throughout the country, the demand for biodegradable straws is on the rise. Online store Webstaurant Store now offers 34 type compostable straws, as well as 114 plastic grades. Restaurantware.com sells several varieties of stainless steel straws, including some gold plated ones.

“Straws are an unnecessary item that we are used to,” says Kara Wuhring, sales representative Aardvarkpaper straw manufacturer Colo. “If you can get by, that's great, but if you can't, we have an alternative.”

The company, which invented paper straws in 1888, sold them with great success for decades. But by 1960, cheap plastic straws began to fill the market.

“Plastic came in and destroyed our entire production at that point,” Woering said.

The company returned to life decades later, in 2007, when it renewed the production of paper straws at the request of Ted's montana grill, a restaurant chain founded by media magnate Ted Turner.

Managers of cafes and restaurants changed the plastic for paper and began to wean customers from straws.

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