No straw, please.

By: Mariel Díaz

Do we really need straws?

As time passes by, we observe more and more that our planet is asking us for our contribution to stop the contamination.

Last September, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, the new Law for the Prevention and Integral Management of Solid Waste was presented, seeking to improve the quality of our environment by prohibiting the use of straws, Styrofoam products and polyethylene bags.

If approved and applied, plastic waste would decrease and in the long run an improvement would be more than visible.

While this initiative goes trough approbation and analysis, we don't want to stay still without doing something about it.

That's why in our hotels Royal Solaris Cancun, GR Solaris Cancun and GR Caribe by Solaris the use of plastic straw is limited and at the time we're testing different options of ecological straws searching for the best one to offer in drinks that need a straw, for example those that have a crushed ice base (smoothie texture).

As well in the state of Baja California Sur, reforms were approved for the Law of Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection of the State, which will work in a similar way: the elimination of the use of plastic bags, expanded polystyrene containers (cork), as well as straws. That makes way to a big change because according to statistics, around 138,032 pieces of straw and Styrofoam containers are thrown in the boulevard of La Paz, every month!

Our hotel Royal Solaris Los Cabos sums up to this, and just like the Solaris resorts in Cancun, the use of straw in the facilities has been reduced.

In conclusion we stopped offering drinks with this utensil in all of our hotels, so if you are staying with us your drinks will not have one... What can you do if you need or want to use straws? We have the following tips for you:

Bring your own straws: Made of paper, metallic, avocado seed, biodegradable plastic or eatable. There's plenty options for you! Pick the one that best suits you.

Bring your tumbler or liquid container: Here at Solaris we don't have any problem by serving your favorite drinks on your own container.

Win a contest with the Entertainment staff and receive a Solaris watter bottle: What's better than having fun and having fun and winning the best prize to help the environment!

Purchase a Jar or a Solaris Tumbler: In our Solaris Shop we include the sale of tumblers and jars with lids and straw, and of course, with the best designs for you to have a souvenir of paradise. For sale in all our hotels!

But remember, decreasing the use of the straw is only the first step, let's make the best effort for our planet! We must consider other types of plastics that we use in our daily basis and think of some alternative, also if you smoke remember not to throw cigarette butts in the street, it is one of the biggest pollutants for the planet.

In the end our planet will thank us!