These Edible Straws Harness Nature to Replace Single-Use Plastic and Help Local Farmers

Equo Straws has launched a 100% biodegradable and compostable straw using natural ingredients sourced from local farming communities. Tran-Vu, who previously worked in brand management for consumer goods companies like Unilever, LG, and Bacardi, was inspired to build a sustainable future for her nephew, while working to support local economic growth and job creation in her parents’ hometown in Vietnam.

“Traveling the world and seeing the massive amount of plastic in the forests, oceans, and beaches breaks my heart. I really want future generations to have a chance at experiencing a better Earth. Also, after returning to Vietnam, I wanted to create jobs for local farming communities and give them a steady income.” Equo Co-Founder and Managing Director Marina Tran-Vu

The multi-colored Equo Straws’ product line includes four choices with unique characteristics, made from material such as coconut, rice, tapioca, grass and sugarcane, with new material hopefully coming soon. The straws differ in size and color, as well as taste.

“It’s well known that plastic straws are harmful for the environment, with most of the 500 million used every day in America ending up in oceans where they pollute water and kill marine life. Although there are some plastic and paper straw alternatives on the market, most are environmentally harmful through the carbon footprint they make in production and disposal, and we were also unsatisfied with the quality and durability of paper straws.” Equo Co-Founder and Managing Director Marina Tran-Vu

Image source: equointl.com

In addition to their positive ecological impact, Tran-Vu says they wanted to ensure Equo Straws were competitively priced to give consumers an affordable alternative to environmentally harmful straws.

“Overall, we want to make sure if we offer an alternative to paper and/or plastic that it is realistic both in cost and supply. We don’t want cost to be the main reason why people can’t select a better alternative.” Equo Co-Founder and Managing Director Marina Tran-Vu

The name of the product was created by combining the words ‘ECO’, pretty much self-explanatory, and ‘STATUS QUO,’ meaning an existing state or condition – so ‘EQUO’ stands for the ideal of creating functional products with minimal impact to the environment.

“Some people simply don’t have a choice to not use straws because of medical reasons… and albeit as a more personal choice, some people use straws to keep their lipstick/makeup in place or for dental reasons,” she said. “Whatever the reason, we want people to have the freedom of choice… and more environmentally-conscious options.” Equo Co-Founder and Managing Director Marina Tran-Vu

Straws are the first in a line of products the company plans to introduce to replace single-use plastics. We would very much like to adopt this eco alternative on our ships, as we hope that in the near future, items like these will be the norm, not a curiosity.