These “Shark Tank” Entrepreneurs Need Your Help to Launch an Eco-Friendly Straw
Shark Tank is changing the world one invention at a time. Whether the show is launching our new favorite products with the help of the sharks or giving visibility to worthy brands that are already out there, it’s definitely giving entrepreneurs a leg up, including some that might do some real good. Take, for example, LOLISTRAW — the brand new, fully edible biodegradable drinkware, which, with a little help, may soon replace a whole lot of plastic waste.
Creators Leigh Ann Tucker and Chelsea Briganti first appeared on Shark Tank last year, inciting a drinking frenzy with their eco-friendly product. LOLIWARE (AKA the world’s first edible cup), which was immediately snapped up by Mark Cuban.
Their line of cups has seen so much success (they’ve reportedly diverted 133,666 plastic cups from landfills to date!), the cups are regularly sold out online. Now, the duo is teaming up once more to make its original idea even BIGGER with a line of edible straws.
Hailed as the world’s first edible, hyper-compostable (meaning they’ll break down at the same rate as food waste in compost or in the natural environment, such as a waterway) drinkware, Briganti and Tucker are aiming to replace as many of the discarded plastic versions as possible. Their patent-pending innovation, which utilizes “seaweed-based material technology,” makes fully plastic-free, marine-degradable, and non-GMO products.
They’ve got their eyes on restaurant chains, stadiums and large venues, and coffee shops, gearing up for an official launch in the spring, but they need a little help: currently, they’re at $10,335 of their $30,000 Kickstarter goal. Those that help them make it will also be able to voice their say in choosing the flavors and colors the LOLISTRAW will ultimately become.
It’s certainly a worthwhile investment: According to the National Park Service, up to 500 million plastic straws are used and discarded every single day in the US alone. (That’s enough to fill 125 school buses EVERY DAY, in case you were wondering, much of which winds up in our oceans, doing irreparable damage to marine wildlife all over the planet).
We can’t help but feel excited at the prospect of not only helping to save the planet but to have a potential hand in the success of a business.
Count us in!
Would you try these ingenious new edible straws? Tweet us @BritandCo!
(Photo via LOLIWARE + @loliware)