Day Thirty-Six - A Corny Idea

Switch from Plastic Straws to Biodegradable Corn-Based Straws

OK, have I mentioned that I have two kids? Yeah, I do, if you don't believe me, come on over and babysit sometime. Anyhow, if you have kids, you use straws. Lots and lots of straws. You all know about my anti-plastic rants, so I won't even get into how harmful plastic is to the environment. Instead, I will just enlighten you about a whole new option for chocolate milk to mouth delivery.

Corn. Yup. Corn based plastics. 100% biodegradable. How can that be you ask? I have no friggin clue I say. But it's true. I bought a case of them. I also bought biodegradable coffee cups, two different sizes of biodegradable trash bags, and a sampler pack of biodegradable cutlery, napkins, plates and cold cups, just to see how they hold up. You know what? They all worked great! I never would have known they were biodegradable!

Unfortunately, you can't find this stuff in your average grocery store. But you can find it online quite easily by doing a Google (or Blackle?) search. It costs a little more than what you find at the grocery store but I feel it's worth it. Plus I'm a huge believer in voting with my dollar. That's what really brings about change -- profitability. If companies feel it's profitable to make biodegradable products, guess what, we'll be overrun with them.

So go ahead and splurge on things like phosphate-free laundry detergent, plant-based cleaning products and biodegradable picnic forks. You'll be doing a good thing while shopping and that's always fun.

Savings:

I used to go through a 100-pack of plastic straws every two weeks or so. That's 2,600 plastic straws a year that I'm trading in for an earth-friendly, biodegradable, plant-based product.

Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5

Easy peasy. clickety click click. Shipped to my home in a cardboard box, protected by corn-based biodegradable packing peanuts that dissolve in water (yes, I tested them!).