Plastic straws take hundreds, sometimes thousands of years to actually break down and every single plastic straw ever used still exists today. They are unrecyclable and do not biodegrade leading to long-term pollution environmental impacts.
Realising these realities, Jamie-Lee Kay co-founded theotherstraw with her partner, Lennart.
Jamie says she’s really lucky to live by the beach in Australia and she’s seen firsthand the damaging impacts plastic straws have on our natural environments and wildlife. Jamie and her partner, Lennart are passionate about sustainability and the environment, which led them to start theotherstraw – to help make the world a more sustainable place.
theotherstraw is a social enterprise replacing single-use plastic straws with reusable, compostable, sustainable, ethically-sourced bamboo straws.
theotherstraw serves as a symbol to everything people can do in their everyday life to live a less wasteful lifestyle. Yes, it’s only a straw, but it resembles so much more. By encouraging both businesses and individuals to swap to a reusable straw, they hope it encourages and empowers them to embrace other sustainable swaps into their lives.
As businesses are the biggest contributors of plastic straws, they are our main focus of theotherstraw.
theotherstraw sells their bamboo straws wholesale to the B2B market. They work directly with some of the largest companies, restaurants, universities and hotels in Australia and around the world, including: Johnson & Johnson, Hilton Hotels, Ko Olina Marriott Hotels, University of Missouri, Deakin University, ING Bank, Bendigo Bank, Benary, Christmas Island Tourism Association and the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium amongst others. They also offer customised straws for weddings, events and festivals.
They chose bamboo because we wanted to support a circular and zero waste economy, where no waste was left behind.
Bamboo is one of the most sustainable plants on Earth and is one of the fastest-growing plants. It is grown organically, without the use of any pesticides or chemicals, it is naturally antibacterial, compostable and releases up to 35% more oxygen than trees.
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Since launching in 2018, they have sold over 75,000 reusable bamboo straws and prevented over 7.5 million single-use plastic straws from entering our landfills, natural environments and oceans.
They have also educated over 11,500 individuals and businesses on the impacts of single-use plastic straws and their plastic footprint. In addition, they have supported over 45 ocean cleanups and provided 50 fair and sustainable jobs to the Hmong Ethnic Minority Group in Northern Vietnam. theotherstraw donates 50% of their profits to ocean clean-ups in Australia.
Stay in the loop with Jamie and theotherstraw on their website: https://theotherstraw.com/
