The Life of a Plastic Straw
“I live the best life ever. I only have to work ONE day in my life, and then I can retire for as long as I want.” -Every Straw Ever
Product lifespan is referred to the time from when a product is used, to when it is disposed. Objects such as bikes, shirts, mattresses, drink packaging all have varying lifespans. They eventually end up in one of 2 scenarios; thrown out to the environment, or enduring different cycles of re-usage and material malleability. Meaning an old bike that has bent and rusty parts will either be used for parts, raw materials such as aluminum or rubber, or end up in a landfill if no one decides to extend the cycle. These paths that the products take can be influenced by the supplier if enough effort is put in.
Plastic straws live the shortest time frame for a product. They are used one-time use and are then thrown out. Since they are commonly made from type 5 plastic, or polypropylene, they are rarely accepted by curbside recycling companies; which marks them as retired and sends them to a landfill to decompose. One day of use, and it takes about 200 years to decompose. Seems worth it? America uses 500 million straws every year. We LOVE straws. Being so easy to package and cheap to manufacture, its a no-brainier for your average business. The benefit of not having to reach your cup to the mouth has been enough to keep production increasing every year, sadly enough, but the consequence should be enough to stop it. Plastic straws often ends up in the ocean, parks, lakes, and beaches getting mistaken as food for animals. The more manufactured and the more trash around our environment only promotes higher toxicity levels at a nano level.
Paper, wood,bamboo, or steel straws have a very different product lifespan than plastic. They can be washed and reused over and over for as long as the material maintains integrity, and even after disposed, aren’t toxic to the environment. This shift in material can be the tipping point for extending a products lifespan, but sometimes it has to be more than that.
As a producer, the goods supplied should be made with the most though-out design for all aspects of the life-cycle; including design, production, distribution, use and disposal. The design that utilizes the least resources and energy (measured in carbon) would be the best for our environment and for the expenses of the business. Every producer should consider what other cycle it can enter after completion of the first, and work to inform the consumers to take that route. A truck tire company can advise consumers to donate to a crossfit gym when bald, a skateboard company can offer to collect back broken boards for artists, and protein powder suppliers can offer an incentive to reuse the tubs and buy orders in another material.
Also, instead of starting a new cycle, you can receive an up-cycled product and continue the circular economy. We live in a society where everything should be either new, or thrown away because it should be new. This is attributed to short-lived goods, profits in recurring customers, and micro-trends. And that doesn’t have to stop if life-cycles are kept as lean and extended as possible, because the more this happens, the more efficient we produce as a society.
