Coffee shop paying hefty price for new straws
LAKE WORTH — Common Grounds Coffee Bar on Monday is ditching all plastic straws in favor of the more environmentally-friendly paper straws.
“We’re really trying to push Lake Worth and join Lake Worth in their efforts to make it a clean and a more eco-friendly community,” said Justin Olive, the store’s general manager. “Getting paper straws is one way we can do it.”
Olive said the bar spent $150 on about 6,000 straws from Cheney Brothers, the Rivera Beach food distributor.
“The first price he gave me was $150 per case, which was very inflated because there was barely any in stock,” Olive said. “The price skyrocketed.”
Olive called the move a challenge because of the expense.
“It begins to add up and it was something we had to consider and look at,” he said.
Dennis Kunin, a Cheney Brothers salesman, agreed.
“For $40 or $50, he could’ve gotten like 24,000 plastic straws, it’s ridiculous,” Kunin said. “Nobody really used paper straws until all of a sudden now all these cities and towns are coming out with all of these policies about plastic straws, saying they’re bad for the environment and the wildlife. Now everybody wants them and there aren’t any, so the price obviously goes up.”
The coffee shop, celebrating its fourth anniversary Nov. 1, is not alone in becoming more environmentally conscious.
Starbucks is one of many chains to recently announce it would go without single-use plastic straws by 2020. Bon Appetit Management Company, a food service management company that services about 1,000 locations around the nation, also recently announced it would stop using plastic straws in facilities it manages.
McDonald’s said it would also switch to paper straws in all of its 1,300 U.K. locations starting in May. Stores also will keep straws behind the counter, and customers will have to ask for a straw if they want one. Chains such as Wagamama and Pizza Express are also moving away from plastic straws.
Environmentalist groups estimate we use more than 500 million plastic straws every day in the U.S.
Also starting Monday, Lake Worth moves away from a single-stream recycling option to two recycling options as the city restarts its partnership with the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County.
Olive said the coffee shop has been using two recycling containers already.
“We believe in doing good,” Olive said. “We know where Lake Worth is and where these plastic straws can end up. We’re taking one step at a time to take care of our environment.”
Olive said he’s also looking forward to getting rid of plastic silverware and replacing it with wooden or bamboo silverware.
“We want to get to the point where we’re plastic free,” Olive said.