My opinion is paper straws suck, but not literally. They are just terrible.
Early this week while trying to do some kind of Holiday shopping in our world of pandemic shutdowns, I needed a drink. All of the bars in the mall were closed so I ordered a milkshake at of of my favorite local places. Ruby’s. I got a great holiday spirit peppermint milkshake with a paper straw and a spoon. Within minutes the paper straw was mush and soon I was eating my liquid milkshake with a spoon. I got $2 worth of my $8 milkshake.
Then this morning I stumbled on a company right down the street from my office in Huntington Beach. Newlight Technologies. They claim to have a straw that is even more biodegradable than cellulose and will hold up to a Ruby’s milkshake. I have asked them to send me one to test so hopefully there will be a video here soon or on our Roku Channel.
Newlight uses a process to take carbon out of the air along with waste methane. They “feed” this waste to a microorganism that poops out something called PHB. They call it “AirCarbon”. As #RWTH, I am a fan already. Using waste to make something good that breaks down and doesn’t give the guys at 4Oceans more to clean up is what I call a win-win. No more paper straws that turn into mush either.
The technology plant here in Huntington Beach that makes this stuff is pretty cool too. On the outside you might mistake it for a part of the old Boeing Aircraft plant or Space-X. On the inside it looks like a bazaar micro brewery you’d expect on an episode of The Mandalorian. In some ways I guess that is what it really is. Instead of making blue alien milk drinks, it makes blue ocean friendly carbon. Maybe next time you get a paper straw, you should ask the manager to order AirCarbon.