Blackheath, in the World Heritage listed Blue Mountains, Australia, has become the world’s first town in which all the shopfront businesses have agreed to phase out plastic straws.
Thirty businesses – all the cafes, restaurants, bakeries, grocery shops, delicatessens, takeaways, service stations and pubs – now display signage indicating that they will only offer straws on request. Some businesses, like The Piedmont Inn, have already replaced plastic straws with paper straws! A community bulk buy and sponsorship by Aardvark paper straws and Australian distributor Green Pack means that when stocks of plastic straws are depleted, all the other businesses in this popular tourist destination will also offer paper straws instead of plastic.
According to Lis Bastian from The Big Fix, who organised the bulk buy, “We believe that as community awareness rises, more and more people will choose to ‘Say NO!’ to straws, and that the demand, even for paper straws, will decrease. Globally billions of straws are thrown out each day and Blackheath alone has been throwing out around 40,000 straws a month! Because they don’t biodegrade, they are amongst the top plastic pollutants harming our waterways, oceans and ecosystems. This is such a small and easy thing each one of us can do and I’m thrilled that the businesses of Blackheath have worked collaboratively to achieve this milestone” :
1. Victory Cafe
2. Vesta
3. Wattle Cafe
4. Anonymous Cafe
5. Meet Me at Matt’s
6. Cabin & Co Cafe
7. Bakehouse on Wentworth
8. Ashcrofts Bistro
9. The Piedmont Inn
10. New Ivanhoe Hotel
11. The Gardners Inn
12. Thai Silk Restaurant
13. Govetts Cafe
14. Altitude Delicatessen
15. Blackheath Continental Deli
16. IGA Blackheath
17. This Little Piggy Wiggy Gourmet Delicatessen
18. Blackheath Vegie Patch
19. Blue Jax Restaurant at the George Boutique Hotel
20. Glenella
21. Ho’s Palace Chinese and Seafood Restaurant
22. Harry Phillips Studio Restaurant at Redleaf Resort
23. Escarpment Tapas Restaurant
24. Base Camp Cafe and Nepalese Restaurant
25. Blackheath Friendly Grocer
26. Blackheath Bakery and Patisserie
27. United Blackheath Station Minimart
28. Blackheath Fish and Chips Shop
29. Blackheath Newsagency
30. Blackheath Public School Canteen
31. Pizza Delish (serves no straws)
While paper straws cost more than plastic, participants in Blackheath’s Youth Cafe, pictured above, say ‘Straws Suck!’ They’d be more than happy to pay 5c extra to cover the cost of a biodegradable alternative, but are even happier to ditch straws altogether. They’re keen to make using straws the most undesirable choice!
Next on the town’s list is plastic bags!
