A new glassware is riding the consumer wave against single-use plastic straws with innovative technology for a simple solution.
Wave Glassware creators are inspired by and have teamed up with advocacy group The Last Straw, which notes “the first plastic straw you ever used will be around long after you are gone”.
Australians use more than 10 million every day and straws are now rated in the top ten of all ocean pollutants. They are too small to recycle, and many end up in waterways, only to make their way to the oceans.
The Wave glass incorporates patented ‘Dual-Chamber Technology’ in the form of an internal wall in the glass.
The wall separates the inside into two chambers – one containing the liquid mix, with ice and possible garnishes, the other acts as a drinking chamber, allowing only liquid from near the bottom of the glass to pass.
“Over the last few years the plastic straw has almost become a symbol of the waste-free movement,” says Eva Mackinley, founder of The Last Straw.
“People, where possible, have widely changed their thinking and behaviour around disposable plastic straw use.”
The humble straw was speared into public consciousness by a viral Youtube video that showed marine biologists painfully removing a piece of plastic straw from the nose of a suffering sea turtle. This has since spawned a revived market for re-usable and bio-degradable products, with companies vying to be the most cost-effective or environmentally-friendly alternative.
Mackinley suggests some things can be simply about simplicity and new ideas.
“The Wave Glass design offers the convenience of a straw but without the disposable factor. The future of sustainability is material innovation and out-of-the-box design solutions like this.”
Sydney bar This Must Be The Place, winner of Time Out’s Bar of the Year in 2017, saw the Wave glassware as aligning with its ongoing focus on sustainability and plastic waste reduction.
Owner Luke Ashton began stocking the glassware in April, and created the Nu Wave cocktail – inspired by countries that have had their coastlines affected by plastic waste washing ashore. It incorporates Talisker Whisky from the Isle of Skye, young coconuts from the Pacific Islands, pandan from Thailand and lemon myrtle from Australia.
