Bethany Blues goes strawless
Environmental responsibility has been a key philosophy of Bethany Blues since its conception. From the green roof on top of the Lewes location, to constantly assessing the impacts of product use, including recycling their deep-fry oil and their use of eco-friendly paper products in state parks, the team at Blues is on a mission to be as sustainable as possible.
This year, when Victoria Bailor, assistant general manager, saw a campaign spearheaded by the Surfrider Foundation in Ocean City, Md., about going strawless, she knew it was a good fit for Blues. Bailor said, “Since we are so close to the beach, it made a lot of sense to me as the next natural step.”
So, this summer Bethany Blues made it official and went strawless at both locations. Drinks aren’t served with straws unless requested, and diners will find placards on tables and the bars with a hashtag #skipthestraw explaining why this mission is important. And while the changes appear small, it amounts to big impacts, overall.
For the Lewes location, there has been an annual usage of 187,200 straws. By not offering a straw with each drink, Blues in Lewes is seeing a 75 percent reduction in its straw usage, which is a lot of plastic that won’t make its way to landfills, or even worse, the ocean. Bailor and her team are very proud of this fact. Customers don’t often notice how much they are making a positive impact on the environment just by making this simple change...and they often don’t even miss the straw.
Bailor said, “The idea is that if we can help further the movement, then you can imagine how many straws we’ll eliminate. And there are a lot of emerging alternatives, so going forward, plastic may not even be in use for straws at all.”
For Bethany Blues, going strawless is only the beginning. It is also phasing out all styrofoam products and swapping in wheatgrass-based to-go containers. The new containers feel very much like cardboard and are sustainable. This will eliminate the use of approximately 800 styrofoam to-go boxes weekly.
