Did you know that only about 20% of plastics produced every make it back to a recycling facility?

Think about how many plastic straws you have used in the course of the last week. Whether eating fast food or at a regular restaurant, and not to mention juice boxes! That is a LOT of plastic!!

Have you ever heard of Glass Straws? Yes, REALLY! Glass Straws! Glass Straws are an excellent choice for going reusable vs. “disposable”. I got to test out some Glass Straws from GlassDharma.

About GlassDharma Glass Straws

David Leonhardt, a lampworker (glassblower) for over 15 years, created the GlassDharma line of glass drinking straws to contribute one solution to the misuse of plastics in our society.

Glass straws promote health and are environmentally friendly, and they do these things with elegance and style.

Plain and simple, here’s how and why they work:

• Glass straws don’t leach toxins into your beverages as you drink.
• Each time you use your glass straw equals one less plastic straw ending up in your landfill.
• One glass straw potentially replaces thousands of plastic straws. (How many times will you use a straw the rest of your life?)
• Using your glass drinking straw adds a feeling of beauty to your day, and they are just FUN to drink out of.

GlassDharma glass drinking straws are:

• Made of borosilicate tubing and is the strongest glass commercially available.
  • That means that they have spared no expense in bringing you the strongest, most durable drinking straw possible.
• Annealed to Corning, Inc. specifications (a process that strengthens the glass).
  • So you can have confidence you are purchasing the highest quality glass straws available.
• Made of glass which does not leach ANY TOXINS into your food.
  • So you can use your non-toxic straws with confidence.
• Created with the beauty and elegance that only glass can give.
  • You’ll feel like royalty – with a touch of ‘glass’.
• A great environmental addition to your kitchenware.
• Great for hot or cold drinks, microwave and dishwasher safe!!
• Are fully backed by GlassDharma’s 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.
• If they don’t meet your expectations, return for a full refund.
• Covered by an unbelievable Lifetime Guarantee Against Breakage.
  • This means that if they ever break, GlassDharma will replace them – Free! (Why do they do this?)
• Hand-made in the U.S.A.

My Review

I got 4 different GlassDharma straws to try out (l to r in the photo).

• Decorative Dots SIPPER (RED) 7mm x 6.25in
• Decorative Dots ICED TEA (BLUE) 9.5mm x 9in
• Simple Elegance SMOOTHIE 12mm x 9in
• Beautiful Bends ICED TEA 9.5mm x 9in

Right away I picked the one with blue dots as my own! LOL! Bud Bud claimed the Red Dots Sipper, and MrCutie chose the Smoothie (it’s the biggest of them all). That means Sweetheart got the Beautiful Bends, and she was quite happy with that choice, too – it’s FUN and different than everyone else’s!

These aren’t lightweight straws. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I was surprised by the thickness of the straw wall. For example, with the Smoothie straw, the OUTER diameter is 12mm, but the inner diameter is 7.6mm.  12mm – 7.6 mm = 4.4 mm / 2 = 2.2mm wall thickness.  It may not sound like it’s very big, but think of a plastic straw that is like 0.25mm thick!  That’s a lot of glass!

Also, the thick glass is smooth and strong! General glass care rules apply, but the straws don’t feel like they are going to break in your hand or while you’re using them. They are quite comfortable and sturdy.

Glass straws feel different in your mouth than plastic straws because, well… they are more substantial. There’s just MORE to these straws than those flimsy little straws. I personally LOVE drinking out of the straws myself.

I got a couple of cleaning brushes with my straws as well (not every straw comes with a brush, but they are TOTALLY worth having, to keep the glass sparkly clean inside).  They are easy to clean.  I haven’t dishwashered or microwaved them, but they are safe to do that with.

We did have a mishap with MrCutie’s Smoothie straw. It slipped from his hand about 6 inches above a pottery bowl, and when it hit the edge of the bowl the straw broke. It hit at a very strange angle, and it must have landed just right to cause a break. Thankfully, the straw didn’t shatter – it cleanly broke into 3 pieces, 2 large and one small. We sent a photo to GlassDharma and they were more than happy to replace the broken straw, as per their guarantee, even on a straw I was sent to review!!!!  WOW!  They have very few straws needing to be replaced, but they take care of it immediately on those rare occasions when a replacement is needed.

I have to say this too: The other straws have endured much more ‘life with kids’ than the Smoothie straw that broke, and we’ve had NO issues with them at all. I use my straw almost daily – in iced tea, pop, ice water, etc. It’s going strong after nearly 2 months of use. The color on the blue dots isn’t fading at all (the dots are blue glass, not just painted blue), and there’s no indication that the straw has even been used – it looks like new!

We all love our straws! They have a glass on the countertop where they live, ready and waiting to be grabbed and dunked into a frosty beverage. And since they are different, we never get them mixed up – I always know which one is mine, or if someone stole my blue dots! LOL!

In a perfect world, single use plastics will cease to exist. But we’re far from perfect right now. A straw is one small step that creates a spiraling thought process toward other re-usables. Together, with choices like glass straws, we are making a difference that greatly impacts our environment!

For more about GlassDharma visit their website at: http://GlassDharma.com

WIN IT!

Giveaway: ONE lucky It’s OK to be WEIRD! reader will win a $25.00 Gift Certificate Gift Code to use at GlassDharma Glass Straws!

To Enter: Mandatory – Visit GlassDharma and leave me a comment here telling me which straw you’d like to try (1 entry).

Bonus Entries:

• Follow @OKtobeWEIRD and GlassDharma on Twitter and Tweet this giveaway using this GlassDharma Giveaway Tweet (you can tweet this once a day for extra entries, and leave a link to each tweet in a separate comment.)
• Like It’s OK to be WEIRD on Facebook. {1 entry}
• Like GlassDharma on Facebook. {1 entry}
• Follow It’s OK to be WEIRD on Networked Blogs {1 entry}.
• Subscribe to It’s OK to be WEIRD! by RSS Feed or email {2 entries}.
• Follow It’s OK to be WEIRD! Blog on Google + {leave me your Google+ name – 1 entry}.
• Follow It’s OK to be WEIRD! on Pinterest {leave me your Pinterest username – 1 entry}.
• Stumble, Digg, +1 or comment on any of my non-giveaway posts. {leave a comment telling me which post you Stumbled, etc., and your username – 1 entry}

Leave a comment on this post for EACH entry (1 entry per comment).  Be sure to leave your e-mail address so that I can contact you if you win!

Giveaway closes Monday, July 2nd at 9:00pm MST Open to CANADA (excluding Quebec) and the USA.  The winner will be selected by random.org and notified by email, and will have 48 hours to reply back before a new winner is selected. Good Luck!

Note to contest entrants: if you subscribe via EMAIL, in order to be considered for the giveaway, you MUST verify your email when the confirmation message arrives in your mailbox.

Thank you to GlassDharma for sending me the above mentioned products to review. No other compensation has been received for publication in this space. As always, opinions are my own.