Plastic pollution
Blue Planet II
It’s fair to say the Blue Planet II series has affected a lot of people and the topic of plastic pollution in our lives is everywhere right now. Our household is no different and the lovely S and I were horrified by what our consumption of plastics is doing to our planet and in particular our oceans.
The first decision we’ve made is we’re emailing all our booked couples to let them know that if they want to provide drinking straws for guests, they need to be paper, not plastic. We don’t want any plastic straws brought here and we guarantee not to provide any with our bar service. We’re looking for ways to reduce our plastic pollution from our weddings and this is our first step.
Glass straws
Strangely before all the talk about plastic straws, last year I bought some very cool clear glass straws for us to use in cocktails at home. I love them! They come with a groovy cleaning brush but they’re also dishwashable so you can just stick them in the dishwasher if you want to and they look really stylish into the bargain. Glass straws are not really practicable for big weddings but there are so many other types of straws to choose from, it’s easy!
Eco straw suppliers
Here are some suppliers of alternatives to plastic straws you might want to check out for your wedding:
This company was set up in 2014 by people involved in water sports who had seen first hand the damage that plastic drinking straws were making to the environment and decided to offer a bio-degradable alternative. Their straws come with hearts, stars, chevrons, flowers or block colours.
If you’re looking for something more unusual, how about wheat straws from EcoStrawz? Made entirely from natural wheat, they add a rustic touch to your drinks. You can get 40 straws for £2.40 so they’re cheap too. The same company also do bamboo straws, made from 100% bamboo – how cool are these? What’s more for every straw sold, EcoStrawz donate 1penny to Sea Shepherd a marine conservation charity.
Is a company we’ve bought from before. They sell all kinds of eco-friendly party supplies so we’ve bought disposable (non-plastic) cutlery and plates from them. They also have a good range of paper straws so definitely worth a look.
Our commitment
I’d love to hear from you with your suggestions about what we can do to reduce our use of single-use plastics. Get in touch, let me know!
We’re not going to solve all the problems of the world but just because we can’t do everything, doesn’t mean we should do nothing. I’m committing to do a post a month for the rest of 2018 to report on progress we’re making here at the venue and also in our home life.
