Cafe in Philippines Use Palm Leaves To Make Environmentally-Friendly Straws

By
Victoria Lee
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Plastic pollution is one of the biggest reasons why the Earth is slowly, but surely dying.

The numbers are alarming. We produce 300 million tons of plastic every year. 50% of these plastics are single-use. This means that they were only used once before it was thrown away, so plastic products like straws, bags, cutlery – You name them.

And these have contributed greatly to plastic pollution in the oceans. Specifically, more than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean.

Since then, many people have been coming up with innovative ways to cut down on plastic use. And you’ll be amazed at how clever some of these ideas are.

Eco-friendly Straws

Metal straws have become the latest trend. In fact, sometimes I wonder if people get metal straws to save the environment, or just to keep up with the trend.

But that isn’t so bad, anyway, because people are still helping to cut down on the use of plastic straws.

But move aside, metal straws.

Because something new has come along.

Something even more environmentally-friendly than metal straws.

Something like…

Yes, it does look like satay, but anyways.

Lukay Straws

In Siargao island in the Philippines, a cafe has started serving drinks with “Lukay” straws, the local term for palm leaves or coconut fronds.

These straws are environmentally-friendly and made out of fresh coconut leaves. This new movement was implemented in the cafe last week.

The manager of Cafe Editha, Sarah Tiu, 37, told INQUIRER.net that she decided to use lukay drinking straws after a tour with her family to Corregidor Island in Siargao.

“We bought fresh buko and they just cut lukay, then made it into straws. So we asked them to teach us [because] we were very impressed with the idea,” she added.

The post received quite a lot of attention, with 15,000 reactions, 5,900 likes, 1,100 comments and 26,000 shares.

Everybody Can Do It Too

There’s even a video that teaches you how to make one at home. If you have the required materials, of course.

All you’ll need is coconut leaves, which may be hard to find in Singapore.

Cutting Down on Plastic Straws

Sarah had always wanted to eradicate the use of plastic straws in her cafe and offered different substitutes for it.

“We tried using stainless (steel) straws and paper straws, but our customers didn’t like using it,” Sarah said.

I don’t blame them, though. Drinking through paper straws can sometimes be a very terrifying experience, especially after it gets soggy from sipping too much.

This new straw invention has also received mix reactions despite how much attention it has garnered. While there were some people who were 100% on board with this idea, some others were somehow opposed to it and found it flawed.

“Just drink directly from the cup,” wrote a Facebook user under the post. While this may sound like an easier way of completely eliminating the use of straws, another user pointed out that some people have sensitive teeth and require a straw to drink cold drinks.

Another user argued that it may be a good idea, but the straw may affect the taste of the drink they ordered because of the natural scent and smell of lukay. And then proceeded to mention that people should buy their own metal straws or the cafe should provide them.

Despite that, it’s a step closer to cutting down on the use of plastic straws. Hopefully in the near future, more people can come up with more straw inventions to completely eliminate the use of straws.

Here’s to a greener Earth!

Image: giphy

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Victoria Lee
Email: [email protected]