Sea Going Green partners with Straw by Straw !

Why are straws such an issue?

Every day we use hundreds of millions straws worldwide. In the US it’s estimated that they use 500 million straws every single day. In the Netherlands we estimate this amount around 8 million straws used every day.

This is a problem because polypropylene doesn’t biodegrade. They stay almost forever and damage the environment. Besides that, for every 1000kg polypropylene straws produced, 2000kg of crude oil is used and 2000kg of CO2 is produced.

What does Straw by Straw do?

First of all, we replace all plastic straws with natural straws. Our natural straws are used as cover crops after the corn harvest because farmers need to protect their soil.

Besides that we trigger consumers to become more aware about the plastic pollution problem. To do so, we also launch a clothing line very soon.

Why did you start Straw by Straw?

For many reasons but my main reason is, I always think about how the world will look like in 50 - 100 years from now. How does it look like if we continue like this? There are some problems that you can already see and some good things as well. But I chose to look into sustainability because that’s a field that I’ve got most affinity with. After seeing a video of a turtle in the middle of the atlantic ocean, with a straw in its nose, it kept me thinking how the world would look like in 50 years if we continue our plastic consumption. To me the answer was: an ocean full of plastic entering our food chain. And if your future (grand) children will ask you why the ocean is covered full of plastic, what would you answer? Although I don’t have children I know I would be ashamed knowing I haven’t done anything about the problem.

It’s our behavior that impacts the future generation.

Can you describe a typical work day for you @ SBS?

Morning:

Waking up early, planning on everything that has to be done.

Answering emails and sending orders.

Afternoon:

Meetings, phone calls, visiting potential customers and pitching why we should stop using polypropylene straws.

Evening:

Building / developing a website and working on new collections.

PS. I need help so if you want to join my team just send me a message : ev@strawonamission.com

What has been your biggest challenge so far?

People already know about the problem but I think the biggest challenge is to get them motivated to use less plastic straws. The main problem of plastic is that it’s so cheap, how can anything that cheap be good? On the other hand, I also understand entrepreneurs who need to cut costs. So it’s always a cost vs sustainability dilemma. I try to show the value of 100% natural and that’s how I’ve been convincing people so far.

Check out her website to learn more about Straw By Straw, and her blog post about Sea Going Green here.