Good Thinking

Ice Straw fights plastic problem and keeps drinks cool at the same time

Ice Straw fights plastic problem and keeps drinks cool at the same time
The Ice Straw is a sustainable straw made from ice, thanks to a reusable silicone mold
The Ice Straw is a sustainable straw made from ice, thanks to a reusable silicone mold
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The Ice Straw is a sustainable straw made from ice, thanks to a reusable silicone mold
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The Ice Straw is a sustainable straw made from ice, thanks to a reusable silicone mold
The Ice Straw comes in three different sizes for different types of drinks
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The Ice Straw comes in three different sizes for different types of drinks

Plastic straws have become the poster child of waste lately, and most alternatives have their own issues. Now, a start-up called The Ice Guys is crowdfunding an intriguing solution that fights the plastic straw boogeyman and keeps your drinks cool at the same time – the Ice Straw.

While they’re far from the only villains in the story, plastic straws are the epitome of wasteful single-use plastics. They’re only ever used for a few minutes before being discarded to spend the next thousand years in landfill or the ocean, where they can harm wildlife. In recent years, such single-use plastics have been banned by jurisdictions like the European Union and Canada, with corporate giants like Nestlé and McDonald’s pledging to soon phase them out entirely.

There’s no shortage of alternative materials, like stainless steel, aluminum and silicone, but they can be hard to clean, affect the taste of the drink, or in the case of paper straws, get soggy and gross within minutes.

Enter the Ice Guys, who have now come up with a solution so simple it’s hard to believe no one else has thought of it before – make the straws out of ice. The unimaginatively named Ice Straws last just long enough to finish your drink before leaving zero waste, with the added benefit of cooling it, too.

The product is essentially a silicone mold that can be filled with water and frozen in 30 to 45 minutes, before being squeezed out of the mold ready to use. They come in three different sizes for different types of drinks – the Classic measures 220 mm (8.7 in) long with a 5-mm (0.2-in) diameter hole. The Cocktail has the same hole width but only measures 140 mm (5.5 in) long, for drinking out of shorter cocktail glasses. And the Boba is a thicker version of the Classic with a 12-mm-wide (0.5-in) hole, for slurping up the pearls of a bubble tea.

The Ice Straw comes in three different sizes for different types of drinks
The Ice Straw comes in three different sizes for different types of drinks

While we might worry about running out of Ice Straws quickly, the Ice Guys says that you can prefreeze a few, take them out of the mold and keep them in the freezer, ready for 5 o’clock to roll round. And they don’t always have to be made of water ice either – you could try making straw out of juice, soft drink or whatever else takes your fancy.

Of course, we have a few questions about the practicality of the Ice Straws. How much time are people going to want to put into making their straws every time they want a drink? Will they melt before you can get through your drink? How much might they crack and leak? Is the cold unpleasant on your fingers or lips?

It’s hard to know if it’s worthwhile without getting our hands on some, but at the very least it’s an intriguing idea. Existing “ice straws” can be found on Amazon, etc, but they seem to still use a silicone tube in the center, so the cleaning issue remains.

The Ice Guys are currently seeking funding for the Ice Straw on Kickstarter, where it’s already raised over seven times the modest US$5,000 goal with over a month remaining on the campaign. Pledges start at $19 for a single mold in any of the three sizes, or $39 for a triple pack. If all goes to plan, shipping should begin in May 2023, just in time for the Northern Hemisphere summer.

Check out the Ice Straw in action in the video below.

The Ice Straw

Source: Kickstarter

14 comments
14 comments
Dan
What a joke. "National Geographic reveals that where 8 million tonnes of plastics flow into the ocean every year, plastic straws merely comprise 0.025% of the total". Let's put serious effort into things that will actually move the needle rather than this stunt.
Karmudjun
Yeah, no thanks.
I carry a stainless steel straw with me when I go out. I just don’t have a great way of cleaning & drying it after use other than my handkerchief.
Spud Murphy
When I was a kid there were only paper straws generally available and they worked just fine. There are lots of paper straws around nowadays, this seems like a bit of a pointless idea which will just result in thousands of silicone straw moulds sitting in kitchen cupboards waiting to be used.
ljaques
@Dan +1 How about 5,000 different GoFundMes to gather money to buy Interceptors from The Ocean Cleanup which collect trash on the rivers that are polluting the oceans. Distribute them all over Asia and Malaysia, where the bulk of the waste is coming from.
@Karmudjun I love stainless straws with a piece of silicone tube over the top end. Cleaning: Keep a couple feet of monofilament fishing line in your wallet. Tie a piece of your napkin/kleenex/tp to one end of it and pull it through your straw. It works very well on both large plastic and stainless straws. Roll it up and put it back in your wallet.
Smokey_Bear
hard pass.
Metal straws are terrible.
Paper straws are also crap.
Nothing beats the disposable plastic straw.
Which means, if you want to make it more eco friendly, do create one that biodegrades in X number of years. problem solved.
But as Dan pointed out, going after straws is laughably pathetic.
vince
Make straws out of Whiskey ha.
MCG
How about candy straws that compliment what you are drinking? Seems they would be hardier than melting ice, more flavor, and could be made sugar free.
aksdad
Or...drink straight from the glass or cup as God intended. If you have to transport your beverage, put a lid on it and remove it when you imbibe. What is it with all the straw drinkers? Did we not graduate from kindergarten juice boxes? Be a man and drink like one.
Grunchy
The classic image is a turtle that unfortunately got a straw up its nose, notwithstanding all the other hazards there are in the world: a branch or stick up the nose, cactus needles, porcupine quills, feathers. 7-11 came up with bio-degradable plastic straws, that seems like a pretty good compromise. Frankly my complaint is their insistence on the "spoon straw," when they did that you can't drink the bottom 0.5 inch of slurpee anymore (because of the spoon), so you have to either drink from the spoon end (which is extremely sharp) or else snip off the spoon. Luckily with the new biodegradable material you can bite it off but it's still ridiculous. If I were in charge I would completely eliminate spoon straws, there is literally zero use case for them. If you need a spoon, get a spoon. I would fire the idiot who invented the spoon straw.
MikeRyanc95317ae2315443b
It always amazes me how many people don't have the eye, hand coordination to raise a glass to their lips. 🤣
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