This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
News
This bike maker decided to sell reusable straws made with scrap tubing – and sold out in hours
A bicycle manufacturer in the USA has become an unlikely beneficiary of the drinks industry’s anti-plastic movement after it decided to sell straws made from leftover tubing.
One particularly hot day as we were churning through iced drinks to stay cool, we decided to turn scrap tubing into titanium drinking straws. No you can buy them! Custom lengths, colors, and bends, all here: https://t.co/jC7q5qzfWj pic.twitter.com/pky923FdNe
— Firefly (@fireflybicycles) July 25, 2018
Firefly, which is based in Boston, Massachusetts, started selling titanium straws on Tuesday 24 July in three sizes — five, eight, and 10 inches, but took to Twitter less than 24 hours later to announce the store had already sold out.
“We have used up 7.5 years worth of titanium scrap in less than 24 hours,” said a blog post on the manufacturer’s website.
The straws, which can be shipped oversees, are made to order, meaning you can pick the length, the color and whether you want it bent or straight
“As we generate more scrap that can be turned into more straws we will make these available again and broadcast their availability.”
Meanwhile, bars, pubs, restaurants and even hotels are continuing to compete to become the most outwardly eco-friendly business in hospitality by removing plastic straws from their sites.
Having begun phasing out plastics from its 63 UK sites, Marriott International now plans to ban plastic straws from its hotels worldwide, while chains such as the Four Seasons and Ritz Carton have also made similar statements in the past year.
On May 30, Hotel Metropole Monte Carlo became the first hotel in the city to ban straws altogether, in support of Monaco’s “Green is the new Glam” campaign.
Hilton announced it would phase out plastic straws and water bottles in its own premises back in May 2018. The chain currently throws away five million straws and 20 million water bottles each year. The Four Seasons, meanwhile, said in April it plans to remove plastic straws from its premises worldwide.