Mama Gone Green is a blog dedicated to raising happy children and reducing our impact on the Earth. My name is Taryn and I am the mother of 2 young kids and an environmental studies instructor at a community college in Portland, Oregon. Please join me as I journey through life as a mama, teacher, knitter, photographer, gardener, and environmentalist!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

The Best Straws Ever

 We drink a lot of smoothies at our house, and a 3-year old drinking a smoothie just seems to work best when there is a straw involved. However, I hated buying and using the plastic drinking straws... not only because they are probably leaching toxins into the smoothie, but also because they are, well, made from plastic. Plastics cause a whole lot of pollution in the production phase, they are made from fossil fuels (which are being depleted), and they don't decompose and end up killing wildlife. So, in short, we try to avoid as much plastic as possible, especially disposable plastic, like drinking straws.
But, I hadn't really found a great alternative to the disposable straws. We found some reusable plastic straws, but they were hard to clean and would get clogged. They were also soft enough to chew on, so they started to have a crinkled appearance... which only contributed to the hard-to-clean factor. I have seen glass drinking straws, and although that sounded great for me.... it didn't quite seem appropriate for a toddler. So when I read a post on a blog I follow, Toward Sustainability, about stainless steel drinking straws, I knew this was exactly what my family needed.
I found a set online and ordered them right away. They cost about $14 for a set of 4, so they weren't exactly cheap, but considering that I will have them forever and they won't clog and pollute a landfill, I'd say it's a fair price. We have been using them for a couple of weeks now and they are great! We haven't had any trouble cleaning them, they are super sturdy, and just look cool. I love 'em! Pin It Now!

3 comments:

  1. I am totally going to buy these- we need them and they have been on my want list forever- I was looking at the Dharma glass ones too- They are more expensive- So glad you posted this!

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  2. Funny, I was just thinking of this today. We too go through a lot of staws and I didn't want to use glass with the kids. I thought I'd search options a bit and make it one of my small changes one of these months. This looks like a great option for us. Thanks for the idea!

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  3. OH my goodness...thank you SO much for posting this! We drink smoothies daily and Dmitri loves straws; but I don't use them for the same reasons you mentioned. I had no idea there were alternatives! This is so exciting...!

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