Companies everywhere are hopping on the bandwagon to eliminate plastic straws, as plastic becomes harder and harder to recycle.
An Oregon man, who started his glass straw business over a decade ago, is finally seeing his business take off.
“We’re still doing the same thing we’ve been doing for over 12 years,” says Craig Graffius.
But when Graffius started making straws out of glass to cut down on plastic, he was on to something.
“A sustainable product is so much better than a throw away product,” says Graffius. “By far.”
And this June, it seems a lot more people agreed with him.
“500% percent, 600 percent growth overnight,” Graffius says.
Suddenly, Graffius found he couldn’t keep up with the demand. He went from producing 2,000 eco-glass straws a week to a couple thousand a day.
The push to eliminate plastic straws has caught on so fast, Graffius had to hire a business partner to keep up with inquiries from around the world.
As for the copycat companies that he knows are popping up, he sees it as a good thing because they’re all working toward the same end goal.
“The more education we can do as a team, the better for us,” Graffius says.
