Facts

Straws: A Love Affair That Demands Attention

Did You Know:

Americans love straws. We use up to 500 million of them every day.
The first fully functional straw, a paper design, was invented by an American in the late 1800s. Marvin C. Stone was motivated by his wish to find a better way to sip mint juleps. We’re not all that different: At Turtle Buddy, we’re motivated by our love of smoothies and sea animals. Mint juleps aren’t too bad, either.
Obviously, Stone’s straw idea morphed into the manufacture of plastic villains years later, and we all know how that turned out. Plastic straws CANNOT be recycled by most recycling facilities in traditional ways. Most of these straws end up stuck in a landfill or burned.
The typical plastic straw made with polypropylene (derived from non-renewable oil) takes up to 500 yearsto decompose in a landfill. This really sucks. Yes, pun intended.
Plastic straws hurt sea life. Unless you literally live under the sea, you and your customers likely make up at least a few of the 31 million people who have seen the following viral post: TurtleStrawVideo.com (Warning: watch at your own risk. You can’t ‘un-see’ this video).

Want to know more about the history and future of straws? Here are some of our favorite articles about the subject.