By Jamie Perez, 7/5/2018 - Channel 3 News, Channel3000.com
MADISON, Wis. - At Vintage Brewing Company in Madison, plastic straws are a thing of the past. For the past year, they've been neglecting plastic straws when they serve drinks and only upon customer request do they hand them out, but even so, the straws are plastic alternatives.
"It's a normal sturdy heavy straw, that's for sure," says general manager Todd Hasselbacher. "We do offer 100 percent compostable straws if the guests are looking for them. [They're] always available upon request."
This is all a part of the movement to rid of plastic straws or severely cut down the use.
"The dollar was worth it for us to let the community know that we are just trying to do our part and litter as least as possible," Hasselbacher said.
They're not the only ones behind the movement either. Places like Forequarter, Eldorado Grill, Mr. Brews Taphouse and Green Owl Cafe are all joining this movement to get plastic straw litter down to a minimum.
Hasselbacher says his restaurant even takes it a step further. Along with not offering straws unless requested, the same rules apply for water.
"We don't automatically serve water. Sometimes on the patio in the summer we do but generally in-house we wait for a request for it just because there is a lot of waste in pouring the water and just in and actually washing the glasses that contain the water," he said.
From an environmental standpoint, staff at Pellitteri Waste Systems say they are 100 percent behind the no plastic straw movement. They say there's too many people who think plastic straws can be recycled so when they are sorting through items at their facilities, hundreds of plastic straws get caught in their equipment. Although they weren't available for an on camera interview, they say the fewer plastic straws, the better.
"People in Wisconsin can really get behind that. There's such great beauty around us, it's just silly to throw plastic straws everywhere," Hasselberger said.