Grass Straws & The Hope of Ending Plastic Straws Crisis

Not only contributing to solving the demand for raw materials, eco friendly straws have been helping the world become greener and cleaner by being a substitute for disposable plastic straws that pollute the environment. More than that, they also bring us hope for the potential of many better natural materials in the future.

From the very first straw of the world...

The first straw found in the world dating back to 3000 BC, created by the Sumerians for beer drinking, was a golden tube inlaid with precious jewels (greenstone lapis lazuli). In the 1800s, straws became popular in Europe and North America. Until 1888, the first modern straw was patented to Marvin C. Stone in America. He created it by wrapping the pieces of paper around a pencil, glued them, and shortly thereafter produced paper straws.

After World War II, plastic straws unexpectedly became more popular. In addition to those harmful single use straws, people have invented many other alternative materials that are reusable such as paper straws and metal straws. However, these two types of straws have many limitations. As a result, ever since, like many disposable plastic items, plastic straws have been the most commonly used material among many types of straws. The single-used straws are waterproof, not easy to tear or to break down like paper, and can be placed and stored anywhere in a restaurant. During the 1960s, the infrastructure for the mass production of plastic straws was born. And from here, all the troubles started to happen.

In fact, since ancient times, different ethnic groups in the world have made their own natural reusable straws from bamboo, castor plant or any kind of plants that have hollow trunks throughout their length in order to drink out liquids from big bottles such as the unique wine of the Muong ethnic group, Vietnam for example. Up to now, the market has a variety of different types of straws such as plastic straws, paper straws, metal straws, silicone straws, bamboo straws, glass straws, etc.

... to the ban of the use of plastic straws and the alternatives

In the late 2010s, a movement toward laws banning and restricting the use of plastic straws and disposable plastics was emerged but not widely recognized. However, years later, when the global amount of plastic waste began to show some significant signs as a threat to all the living creatures on earth, people then finally noticed and governments began to issue a series of orders to prohibit plastic waste.

In the US, Massachusetts and California have implemented bans on all non-recyclable containers, straws and lids since 2017. In 2018, the city of Rio de Janeiro became the first state capital of Brazil to ban the distribution of plastic straws. In the same year, the city council of Vancouver, Canada voted in favor of adopting a "Minimize One-Time Use Strategy" to plastic bins and disposable straws.

Following the movement in the US, the European Union also proposed a ban on disposable plastic items, including straws, cotton swabs, cutlery, blow-up sticks and drink stirrers. In the UK, the ban on the supply of plastic straws, stirring spoons and plastic swabs that has taken effect since 1st October 2020 also marked a major step forward in the government's efforts to fight against disposable plastic waste, protect the environment and clean the oceans.

In Australia, a single-used plastic ban is being put in place in South Australia and the entire McDonald's fast-food chain over the country from 2020.

Facing the need to use plastic straws in particular and other plastic utensils in general, people gradually have to find other types of alternative materials without or less affecting the environment. And that is when the types of different eco friendly materials are born. The most prominent and supported among them are probably bamboo straws, hay straws and grass straws. 

Now let’s see all types of alternatives to plastic straws on the market today.

Types of eco straws on the market today and why switch to grass straws

With so many options out there for eco straws, how do you know which ones are right for you? And how do they stack up against each other? We created this resource to outline the best reasons for using grass drinking straws, and how they’re different from other alternatives.

Though grass straw is a new type of straw that was invented recently, they stand out among all other types of eco friendly straws due to their unique characteristics. When compared to other biodegradable straws above, grass straws will not too heavy and have metal odors like metal straws, they do not produce micro-plastic harmful to human health, they have no production process causing environmental pollution, they are sturdy that works fine with both hot and cold drinks, and never soggy. 

Organic grass straws - The Mother Nature answer

It is not only meant to compensate for consumer supplies, the introduction of grass straws is also a sign of more environmentally friendly solutions for plastic replacement in the future. Grass drinking straws that first come from Nature, 100% natural, sustainable resource, harmless-environment in production and no extra resources used, convenient in use, decompose naturally and finally end up into Nature, are exactly the answer from Mother Nature to plastic straws - the pandemic of the century.