Forget plastic straws. Forget paper straws. As the world searches for ways to stop the planet being filled with rubbish, pasta straws are the key.
Ever since McDonald’s removed plastic straws from its restaurants and subbed in paper straws, the straw debate seems to be never-ending.
Well, Italian bars seem to be taking impressive initiative: giving their customers pasta straws for their drinks.
Posted on Reddit by u/GranFabio, the user shared a snap of their drink with a pasta straw, writing: ‘Here in Italy bars are starting to use pasta as straws to reduce plastic use. Our technology amazes the world another time.’
People responding to the picture loved the idea. One user wrote: ‘Italian engineering at its finest’, while another commented: ‘Now you’re speaking my linguine!’
As it turns out, pasta straws aren’t a groundbreaking development – a few places in the UK have been trying them out.
You can order pasta straws from Stroodles, who specialise in straws made from wheat and water that are 100 per cent vegan and biodegradable. They also last for up to an hour – just don’t use them to drink your tea or coffee.
They’re also totally tasteless, and can be left on the compost heap when you’re finished with them.
A spokesman for Stroodles told Metro:
You can use Stroodles and sleep guilt-free, as being a food product, they decompose over night without any extra action, unlike paper straws, which take thirty to sixty days.
As with any straw it is not recommended to drink hot beverages with it, as it might cause probable injury like tongue burn. Stroodles are recommended for use with cold drinks, unless you want to make a noodle soup.
Back in 2018, Brace & Browns on Whiteladies Road in Bristol introduced pasta straws in a bid to cut down on plastic.
The owners told the BBC that customers’ reactions have been positive – apparently they don’t affect the drinks’ taste whatsoever.
Elena Polisano, ocean plastics campaigner at Greenpeace UK, told The Sun last year:
There are some people who genuinely need straws to be able to drink independently. But for most people they’re a bit daft and unnecessary.
Pasta straws are a new one on us, but it’s brilliant to see the kinds of ideas people are coming up with to help stop the flow of plastic pollution into the environment.
The best alternatives to plastic straws should be accessible for all, reduce waste and move us away from the throwaway culture we’ve become used to.
Pasta straws could be the way forward. Of course, certain kinds are better than others – you wouldn’t want to use linguine, for example. Bucatini is your best bet – or you can buy Stroodles.
Stroodles founder Maxim Gelmann told Metro:
While we’re a very logical and effortless solution to the plastic problem, Stroodles is not just a straw company.
Our driving goal is to become a vehicle for change and we hope that Stroodles can act as an enabler, subtly inspiring people to question how they consume everyday items.
We hope these incremental changes will lead to a ripple effect and create a greater shift in behaviour, one Stroodle at a time.
With ways to fight climate change and help the environment, it seems there’s plenty of pasta-bilities.
I’ll grab my coat.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.