As consumers begin to consider their plastic use, more businesses are beginning to experiment with plastic alternatives.
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Ballarat packaging supplier Berry Anderson is now stocking pasta straws as an eco-friendly alternative to plastic and paper straws.
They’re thick straws made from uncooked pasta which can be cooked after use or put into compost.
Berry Anderson sales and marketing manager Taegan Westin said people who were concerned about their plastic use had begun to think more broadly about alternatives.
“I think we’re becoming more open to change,” she said.
“Even though the plastic bag ban isn’t law at the moment in Victoria it has made people think a bit more about what products they are using, whether it be things like plastic packaging or bags or straws, people are now asking ‘what do you have that is better for the environment’.
“I think it’s also to do with people wanting something different. People photograph their food before they eat it, they Instagram. The plastic straw is something that can catch on as a trend. If we can save the environment by creating trends then why not?”
I think we’re becoming more open to change.
- Taegan Westin, Berry Anderson
A quote on a blackboard in the Berry Anderson shop reads, ‘it’s only one straw, said eight billion people. Make a change today.
An Ellen MacArthur Foundation report warned the amount of plastic in the ocean will outweigh fish by 2050 if current practices continue.
Some environmentally conscious Ballarat businesses have signed up to The Last Straw, an online campaign to reduce the use of plastic straws in Australia.
The Healthy Hub has been proudly plastic free since opening in July last year and Karova Lounge has signed up to The Last Straw campaign. Woolworths has committed to stop selling plastic straws by the end of 2018, while McDonald's has said it will phase out plastic straws across Australia by 2020.
The focus on plastic straws follows the announcement of a state-wide ban of single use lightweight plastic shopping bags from 2019.
Woolworths and Coles no longer offer single use plastic bags to shoppers.
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