A cafe in the Philippines has caught everyone’s attention and earned praise for using biodegradable straws made out of coconut leaves as a means of reducing plastic waste. The eco-friendly straws called lukay (local term for palm leaves) can be found in Cafe Editha, located in Dapa, Surigao del Norte.
Cafe Editha manager Sarah Tiu shared that the idea to use lukay drinking straws came to her during a tour with her family to the Corregidor Island in Siargao. They had bought fresh buko and they just cut lukay, then made it into straws. They learned how to make such straws there and implemented the idea in her café. Tiu recalled that she has tried using different alternatives to plastic straws in the past as it has always been her goal to minimize, if not eradicate, the use of plastics in her establishment.
According to Tiu, previous attempts to use stainless straws and paper straws did not go well as their customers “didn’t like using it.” Tiu introduced the use of lukay straws in their cafe last week and it appears to have been received positively not only by her cafe’s patrons but by netizens on social media as well. She also shared the photos of the lukay straws on Facebook in a bid to inspire other restaurant owners in their city.
Small initiatives like these should definitely help us save living beings as well protect Mother Earth.
