A Philippines Cafe Makes Straws From Coconut Leaves As A Perfect Alternative To Plastic Straws
Neil Armstrong said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. It implied that a tiny step for a man can be a giant leap for the whole of mankind. Of course, he was talking about the Moon landing. But considering the present condition our society is in, it could very well apply to us. With the continuous influx of pollutants into our environment, it is high time we take teeny tiny steps ourselves to some solution. It might go a long way towards helping the environment.
And us.
According to a report in 2016, 40 kg of plastic is produced for each of the 7 billion humans every year. It’s no mystery that it will grow. And because of that hundreds and thousands of marine animals continue to fall victim to gruesome deaths.
Plastics are non-biodegradable substances which take centuries to decompose. They clog the throats of marine animals leading to them choking and dying. They also contain harmful chemicals that make the soil infertile for future cultivation.
While plastic straws are not the main contributors to plastic pollution, Americans still use around 500 millions straws daily. And at least 8 billion plastic straws end up in beaches globally. Also, plastic straws do comprise 4% of the total plastic waste, which is not negligible.
And that’s why small changes tend to matter a lot.
In the Philippines, the manager of Café Editha in Surigao Del Norte, Sarah Tiu, has chosen to go down the non-plastic route. She never liked plastic anyway. At first, she tried using stainless straws and paper straws to replace plastic straws. Well – the customers weren’t fans of the alternatives. She had to find some other way.
When she went on a trip down to Corregidor Island, she found a way to transform her eco-friendly ideas into action, without causing dissatisfaction among customers. There she learned how to use natural products like cut lukay and fresh buko to make straws. Lukay is coconut fronds and leaves while buko is coconut juice.
Once she learned to make these ‘natural’ straws, her idea was to implement it in her cafe. And she did so. The customers loved it. They started sharing the news, along with pictures, on social media. These straws were biodegradable, but the best part, they did not make any sounds and were leakproof. Customer satisfaction guaranteed!
The straws are easy to make and Tiu has shared pictures of these straws to encourage others to adopt them. She makes them with her workers’ assistance before the store opens in the morning.
Related Topics
Related News & Articles
The species, dubbed Homo luzonensis after the island of Luzon where its remains were found, is not a direct ancestor of modern day humans, but rather a distant anci...
Recently posted . 1K views . 1 min read
A Canadian company called JD Composites has built a home that is resistant to hurricane-strength winds. It is said that the house can withstand winds with gusts of ...
Recently posted . 687 views . 2 min read
The whales’ deaths are symbolic of humanity’s shocking disregard for marine life.
Recently posted . 652 views . 1 min read
It's been just a couple of days since teen environmental activist Greta Thunberg took the world by storm with her fiery address in Manhattan on Monday, where sh...
Recently posted . 553 views . 2 min read
President of United States Of America, Donald Trump recently called the Moon a part of Mars and leaving Twitter very confused, which lead to some hilarious jokes ...
Recently posted . 813 views . 1 min read
Trending News & Articles
ALMATY: Hour upon hour, day upon day, Omir Bekali and other detainees in far western China's new indoctrination camps had to disavow the...
Recently posted . 199K views . 1 min read
If you have payed attention to the belly buttons of people on the beach or the members of your family, you have probably noticed that they have different shapes and...
Recently posted . 8K views . 2 min read
In this age of terror, there might be nothing more terrifying than the thought of an attack carried out with chemical weapons. We’ve all heard the horrific ...
Recently posted . 3K views . 4 min read
Body fitness is one thing that everyone wants to maintain irrespective of age. Going to the gym and doing some great exercise always helps to maintain your body fit...
Recently posted . 3K views . 2 min read
More in Global
Other headlines: Voting began for the Nagaland and Meghalaya Assembly polls, and Congress leader Amarinder Singh’s son was booked in a loan default case.
Recently posted. 663 views . 1 min read
NASA's InSight Mars lander’s instruments will allow scientists “to stare down deep into the planet”.
Recently posted. 644 views . 0 min read
The coronavirus pandemic came with disastrous effect. However, it exposed careers that matter in the society. Some sectors are deemed essential for the wellbeing ...
Recently posted. 1K views . 3 min read
Recently posted . 733 views
Recently posted . 1K views
Recently posted . 1K views
Recently posted . 1K views
Recently posted . 1K views . 99 min read
Recently posted . 1K views . 67 min read
Touching the feet is a very common gesture that we used to give our elders. Since ancient times we are practicing this culture. This article deals with the scientif...
Recently posted. 2K views . 2 min read
There are a bunch of different note-taking apps on the Google Play Store, but most people probably gravitate towards the big names like Google Keep, Evernote, or Mi...
Recently posted. 710 views . 4 min read