More Adelaide bars, hotels ditching plastic straws

PLASTIC is no longer fantastic when it comes to straws in Adelaide’s licensed premises, as small bars and hotels lead a charge to reduce waste and save the environment.

• SA cafes, restaurants and entertainment venues are going cashless

PLASTIC is no longer fantastic when it comes to straws in Adelaide’s licensed premises, as small bars and hotels lead a charge to reduce waste and save the environment.

City cafes have already changed the culture around disposable coffee cups, offering discounts to customers with re-usable “keep cups”.

Plastic straws are next on the hit list for CBD venues, which are making the switch to metal and biodegradable drinking straws.

At Peel St, Maybe Mae bar manager Nick Corletto said they began using metal straws this year when serving cocktails.

“It is not inconvenient for us to use it, it’s not too expensive for us to use,” Mr Corletto said.

“It makes a lot more sense from an environmental impact, the amount of straws that we’d go through is quite a lot being a high volume cocktail bar and plastic pretty much never breaks down properly.

Kyle Landman & Emily Cosenza enjoy cocktails at Maybe Mae with a steel straw. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

“Straws turn in to plastic microfibre and that essentially starts forming rafts in the ocean."

The metal straws, although not always recognised for their environmental purpose, have been a novelty for Maybe Mae customers, who often steal them.

But Mr Corletto said the amount of “ethical investment” was significantly more rewarding than the extra spent, and encouraged others to make the switch.

“It’s a sign of the times, where this industry just like every other industry nowadays is starting to think much more consciously about their environmental impact, and how they can reduce that environmental impact in ways that don’t reduce what they offer,” he said.

“No venue actually requires plastic straws.”

Electra House general manager Chad Hanson said changing from plastic straws to compostable straws had been the first step in their sustainability program.

“As a big venue, I think we should have considered it earlier,” he said.

Vegware drinking straws, made from corn starch that breaks down within two weeks, are five times the price of the plastic straws that Electra House was previously buying.

Mr Hanson said that was probably why some venues hadn’t made the switch — but after changing their serving practices, it hasn’t cost them any more.

“Now when we make drinks, we don’t automatically give straws to girls any more,” he said.

“We put the straws on offer and if people want them, they can put it in.

“We’re essentially using 80 per cent less (straws) then what we were previously, it’s huge.”

Environment organisation Planet Ark Recycling Programs Manager Ryan Collins said the phase out of single-use plastic items including straws where practical should be supported.

“There aren’t any known health benefits to using them, and they’re not recyclable in any standard recycling system and REDcycle doesn’t accept them either,” he said.