How can I reuse or recycle … plastic drinking straws?

Drinking strawsJohn has an new liquid obsession – coconut flavoured soya milk – but we can only find it in little single-serving drinking cartons.

While he looks cute supping down on his carton, we’re left with quite a bit of rubbish at the end of it.

We’ve already posted an article for the tetrapak cartons but what about the drinking straws he gets with them? What can they be reused for?

And what about full length straws like certain (icky) fast food establishments give away?

Any suggestions?

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22 Responses to “How can I reuse or recycle … plastic drinking straws?”


  1. Rosie says:

    if you are a sewing person.. you can thread lengths of embroidery thread through straws to stop them tangling.. and as many items call for you to separate the skeins into two or more threads they can become very tangled.
    Rosie:)

  2. dancing girl says:

    If you cut them into small lengths kids could make necklaces out of them. Particularly if they are coloured. Threading small things onto string helps develop their fine motor skills.

  3. drew says:

    another idea is to make your own soy milk which you could easily give a coconut flavor!

    http://www.soya.be/how-to-make-soy-milk.php

    just add some coconut oil at the end or flavor it any other way! I like to add maple syrup as a sweetener.

    • Katz says:

      I agree with drew. You can also buy soy milk in big cartons, and coconut milk comes in tins – you mix them two to make your own soy coconut milk. You would only need a little bit of coconut milk to give a flavour, and it will last for long time in the frige.
      The straws, however you can use for crafts that include weaving. good fun for kids.

  4. max says:

    try melthing the bottoms together, i saw this effected created by a designer, where he heated thousands of straws at the bottom just enough to get them to melt together, then he was able to take this sheet of straws and warp it around a light…its a cool concept

  5. PEEJAY says:

    Well,as a straight a student. I request taht we put the lids on the recycelajtkgrlaep7uyfdea . and make rings out of straws ! straws can help blow balloons faster. Speaking about OBLONG balloons, my party is april 17 at The Rec center. I work out at the YMCA i bring strawws to drink my drink. I was a cadet . good bye !

  6. Don says:

    I just love your straws… RAwr….. hohoho… I’m Santiii CKlaus…. DONM!

  7. Anna Hackman says:

    Hi everyone. I use my leftover straws to mark where my bulbs are that I planted. This enables me to know where they are to dig up for the winter since I live in the northeast in the US. Also, the straws remind me that I have planted a permanent bulb in that space.

    I am also going to use them to mark where I plant seeds that you sow right into the ground. If you want to see a picture of what I did, go to my site at http://www.green-talk.com. anna hackman

  8. Elouise says:

    Why use straws in the first place? When I get a straw at a restaurant, I give it back to the waiter, saying, ‘Thanks, I don’t need that.’ Ditto for sugar sachets with coffee. So somebody else uses them and one less plastic straw/tatty sugar sachet goes into the trash. Better to decline them entirely.

  9. Kathryn says:

    I only take a straw when they give me a sturdy one (like at some tea, smoothie, and coffee places) and then those can be handwashed and reused many times.

    And give your kid a handful of straws for art projects and they’ll come up with a million uses.

  10. Toni says:

    Reference to straws, I have got one suggestion. When I was a child we were always given paper straws. Why can’t we go back to them at least we know we can recycle them or compost them.

    What do you all think?
    You may think it is yuk! but this did not do any damage to me

  11. How about a colorful lampshade?

    Photo (3rd down) and links to how to make it.
    NB:the original designer bought new straws to do it, but I am convinced you could do it, with used ones by cutting off the ends.
    http://vertes-et-mures.blogspot.com/2008/10/lampe-en-bote-doeufs.html

  12. scarcity says:

    u can use drinking straws to make a mat to sit on kids to play on,desk organiser, accesorize as art itself etc just sew them tog with needle and thread

  13. scarcity says:

    If anyone knows if its possible to die straws please let me know.

  14. doggiemom says:

    I want to recycle plastic straws

  15. booo says:

    make a kite

  16. Victor Scott says:

    junk4funk makes childrens pitch-pipes , which actually do demonstate musical pitch, from drinking straws. Please see http://www.junk4funk.co.uk All the best , Victor Scott. junk4funk My Music is Rubbish!!

  17. addy says:

    my family keeps them in a plastic bag which we keep in the car. this comes in handy when you have to stop at a fat food establishment and they forget to give you straws, or if someone has a juice box or something and the straw fell off.

  18. Lizzy says:

    If you need/like to use straws, the casings of some run-out biros are really easy to detach from the rest of the pen, and can be cleaned out for a sturdy, if a little funky, reusable straw.

  19. Anonymous person says:

    Don’t use straws. If you do end up getting one, collect other used ones for Terracycle. I make bracelets out of used glow sticks, and I use a tiny bit of straw as a connector. I am too cheap to buy bracelet connectors πŸ˜‚. You could also buy a reusable straw.



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