The Straw That Stirs The Drink

No, this isn’t a story about how Reggie Jackson endeared himself to his new Yankees teammates in 1977 (for three pages!). And while cans and bottles and the like from concession stands sometimes found themselves on the Yankee Stadium field in those days, thousands of beverages — with lids and straws — are sold at games all year.

With single-use plastics like bags and straws coming under fire for their damage to the environment, the Yankees today announced a partnership with WinCup to provide the company’s phade® straw — an ecologically preferable non-petroleum, non-forest-based bio-plastic product, available at the Stadium’s concession stands.

According to WinCup, the straw is “a marine biodegradable, home & industrial, compostable drinking straw made with PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate), a biodegradable biopolymer derived from the fermentation of canola oil. These straws maintain the convenience of petroleum-based plastic straws but with lower greenhouse gas production impacts and less risk to marine life and ecosystems. The phade® drinking straw is certified for composting commercially and for at-home composting.”

“The global plastics pollution crisis has been building for decades as plastic debris has been identified everywhere from Arctic snow to the deepest points in the ocean. Most significantly, the greenhouse gas emissions from the production of petro-plastics raises global temperatures, which has profound deleterious effects on the health and well-being of people around the world. Yankee Stadium’s shift to a less impacting bio-based option for those who request a straw is a small but meaningful ecological step in the right direction that, hopefully, other businesses will emulate,” said Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, Environmental Science Advisor for the New York Yankees, in a statement.

WinCup’s Michael Winters added: “We continue to see the tremendous impact phade® is having across the sports industry and the positive reaction from fans discovering our unique sustainable Caribbean blue straws and stirrers. The New York Yankees is one of the most well-known sports brands globally and the franchise is to be commended for using that influence to positively impact the environment. It is an honor for WinCup to partner with the Yankees as the 2022 season gets underway and provide a meaningful solution to help address the global plastic pollution crisis. The technology behind phade® is unlike any other straw alternative because it’s formulated with PHA, which acts as a food source for bacteria, allowing for faster decomposition in bacteria rich environments in a matter of months. Based on the success of our phade® straws there will be more innovative phade® products coming in the future.”

Drink up!