I have to admit that Starbucks is a guilty pleasure of mine. It’s an addiction that began many years ago and to this day, one that I’ve not been able to shake completely. However, I only go to Starbucks when I’m traveling. I make my organic coffee at home, or I hit the local organic cafés. Since I was recently on the road, I hit a couple of SB’s. I thought they did away with those useless “green splash sticks?” For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, last year SB unrolled a new perk that was in direct response to consumer requests. Certain consumers didn’t like it when they received their to-go cups and the beverage leaked out of the tiny hole that you sip out of. So SB designed a green piece of plastic to stick in that hole. Now you get the cup, the lid, and a tiny green plug to poke into the lid to keep all that crazy splashing activity down. If you’re SO on the go that you can’t drink coffee out of a two-centimeter hole without spilling it, maybe you should consider using your own travel mug instead. Do you really need a “Starbucks coffee lid sip hole plug stopper ” (or S.C.L.S.H.P.S. for… um… short)? Really?

Glass Dharma

I’m all about gadgets. I’m the first to admit that, but not when it come to useless waste, especially plastic. I was recently asked to do a review of super cool glass straws by a company called Glass Dharma (love the name). David, (owner of Glass Dharma) is a glass blower who has designed glass straws as a partial solution to our “plastic’s problem”. Now, there are a lot more plastics in our world other than just drinking straws, but this is definitely a creative start to reducing some of that waste.

I decided to head to Starbuck this morning, (with my recycled cup), and purchased a Frapacinno, at which point I inserted my cool glass straw to slurp up my indulgent drink. You should have seen the look on the Barista when I pulled out my straw. It was priceless! I let her know, (kindly of course), that I was testing out a product that will hopefully reduce plastic waste. I mentioned that glass straws don’t leach toxins into your drink and that each time you use a glass straw it equals one less plastic straw ending up in a landfill. It’s that simple.

The straw works exactly like a straw should: you suck; liquid comes up and goes in your mouth. While the outer diameter is a little thicker than a “normal” straw, it’s extremely easy to get used to. Cleaning is easy thanks to a cleaning brush, (included free if you get a set of four or six), and they’re dishwasher safe as well.

The straws are not only strong, but are also beautiful, break-resistant and come with a lifetime guarantee. You can also buy a carrying pouch so you can toss one in a bag to always have on hand.

Between fast-food joints, café’s, etc. there are millions of plastic straws collecting in our landfills, oceans and jungles every year. So support a domestic company that’s hand-making items to help us reduce our dependence on disposables. They’re an ingenious little product. Slurp!