Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard the news about straws: These simple, everyday bits of plastic are terrible for our environment.

Why? Not only do plastics not biodegrade (and never fully DEGRADE), but the type of plastic (type 5) of which straws are commonly made is not normally accepted by recycling programs. This means that most straws end up in landfills to remain stagnant until the end of time, OR WORSE, are littered to pollute our beautiful lands and oceans.

But why are straws so bad? There’s so much pollution and litter in the world, how can this small bit of plastic make such an impact? The issue is the WIDE use of this nearly purposeless & insignificant object. In fact, nearly 500 million straws are used DAILY in the United States alone (and after travelling in SE Asia, I’d be surprised if the number wasn’t similar in that region as well! Woof).

Even to the comparatively small degree at which Blue Plate uses straws, I am ashamed to admit how many we mindlessly throw away on a daily basis. We put straws (sometimes two!) in almost every beverage. We use them as stir sticks & taste testers for cocktails and forget to reuse for soda refills. I’ve even seen a case of straws dropped on the ground and thrown away without being used at all (my face is growing hot as I type this)…

So, drum-roll please, the Blue Plate Staff has decided to take an ECO PLEDGE. We will NOT be serving straws in ANY drink starting today. If requested, we do have eco-friendly, compostable straws, but we ask you to think before you use, as nothing has zero environmental impact. We will be donating the leftover straws in our storage to the elementary school in Edwards for arts & crafts projects. In addition to this, we are converting all of our non-reusable restaurant items, such as our takeaway containers, to biodegradable paper products.

Throughout the rest of the season (and beyond), the Blue Plate restaurant and staff will be moving toward the goal of making the smallest environmental impact we possibly can. It’s a small impact in the grand scheme of things, but every small change adds up.

To learn more about the impact of straws on our environment, click here.

If anyone has any comments or suggestions for how we can decrease our footprint, please let us know! And keep an eye out for the blog post next Monday!

 

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About the Restaurant

As the temperatures dropped and the nights grew long,

Blue Plate’s bartenders realized that something was wrong.

“We don’t want to sip on the fruity drinks of hot weather…

Let’s come up with cocktails to make winter taste better!”

So, they muddled and mixed, tumbled and shook,

until the specialty cocktail list began to score a new look.

Lindsey mixed Breckenridge Spiced Rum with peach jam & ginger beer,

then rimmed the glass with cinnamon sugar, oh dear.

 

Meanwhile, Alex was thinking about snowflakes, so pure,

so into his martini went Godiva white chocolate liqueur!

Chris decided he wanted something more luxurious than merry.

“I’ll make a Manhattan with Luxardo cherries!”

After all the hard work, Kinsey needed caffeine,

so she blended whiskey and espresso for homemade Irish Cream.

So, come one, come all! (If you’re over twenty-one 😉 )

And taste their wintry concoctions of fun!

The new winter cocktails featured in this amazing poem are:

• PEACH COBBLER | Breckenridge Spiced Rum, peach, soda & ginger beer
• SNOWFLAKE MARTINI | vanilla vodka & Godiva white chocolate liqueur
• LUXURY MANHATTAN | Bulleit bourbon, vermouth & Luxardo cherries
• HANDCRAFT IRISH | homemade Irish Cream, Jameson Irish whiskey & coffee
• To see the rest of our NEW boozy creations, click here.

Keep an eye out for next week’s blog post, which will address our plans for a red & GREEN holiday season (cough, cough, we’re taking an ECO PLEDGE 😉 )

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About the Restaurant