New Delhi: Charged as guilty. Plastic is choking the planet and is pushing it to the brink. From plastic bags, bottles, to cutlery, every year, close to 8 million tonnes of plastic waste flows into our oceans. Plastic is a product that takes around 450 to 1000 years to completely degrade which means all the plastic manufactured or used by us till date still exists somewhere on the planet. According to a report by World Economic Forum, if no immediate steps are taken, oceans may have more plastic than fish (in terms of weight) by 2050.
Though plastic bags are banned in most of the regions in India, what goes unnoticed are the other commonly used and mostly single use plastic products such as straws. Discarded plastic straws through water bodies and oceans are easily ingested into marine animals and birds. A plastic straw can get stuck in the nasal passage or the digestive track of animals and birds and can kill them.
Immediate stop to the use of plastic straw can help solve part of the problem, but the other part of the problem is dealing with the plastic straws already in the system.
Here are the top 5 creative ways to reuse plastic straws-
1. Solve The Maze Your Way
Plastic straws are choking the planet. Re-us them before they take over marine life
Solving a maze is surely one of the best time pass and keeps everyone intrigued. To make a maze, all you need is a cereal box or a shirt box, some straws and a bead. Cut and paste straws as per your requirement and create mazes of any complexity. Place the bead on a starting point and take it to the end point.
2. Make Your Own Christmas Tree
This World Environment Day, discard use of plastic straws as they are easily ingested into marine animals and birds, leading to death
Christmas is not here, but craft and creativity never sees time and place. Here’s how you can make one for yourself and may be for your friends too.
Create the backbone of the tree by pasting two straws together. Keep the two straws vertically and start pasting straws on them horizontally, in an ascending order. Number of straws to be pasted horizontally depends on how big a tree you want. Now paste a shining star on the top of tree and a ribbon on the back side of the tree. Hang your tree anywhere and everywhere.
Also Read: Goodbye Plastic, Hello Creativity: Five Easy Ways To Reuse Plastic Bottles
3. Make Your Own Wreath/Sunburst Frame
As India gears up to host 45th World Environment Day, ledge to beat plastic pollution by ditching plastic
Call it wreath or sunburst frame, the thing is, you are going to love the outcome and it will add to your home décor. The pretty looking wreath is quite facile to make. Here’s how you can make one-
Take a cardboard and draw two circles; the outer one of radius 8 cm and the inner circle of radius 5 cm. Cut the ring made using two circles and keep it on a flat surface. Now all you need to do is paste straws on it. Fill the ring with straws of different heights and you are good to go. Remember, straws don’t need to be of the size of the circle. You can and you should paste full length straws.
Also Read: No Straws Attached: This Trio From Gurugram Is Fighting A Battle Against Single Use Plastic
4. Redesign Your Boring Pen Holder
#BeatPlasticPollution: Plastic is a product that takes around 450 to 1000 years to completely degrade
It is one of the easiest and coolest DIYs. Pen stands are usually plain and boring, but you can add some color to it using plastic straws and glue. Take your pen stand or any mug or glass which you can convert into a pen stand and start pasting straws on it vertically.
5. Frame Those Memories In A Style
Say no to plastic and shake hands with creativity
A wall full of memories framed into different shapes and sizes add to the look and feel of the room. Framing and decorating on your own increases its value and makes it even more special. To make a frame using plastic straws, you need to cut a cardboard just like you did for wreath/sun burst frame. Remember to cut it in rectangular or square shape. You can also get a plain wooden frame from the market and decorate it. Repeat the same process of pasting straws on it.
