As 2018 dawned on the world, so too did a wave of New Year resolutions - commitments to ourselves and others after a another year of reflection. With that in mind, we wanted to share one of our first resolutions for 2018 – to ban plastic straws from our businesses. Unlike our commitment to hit the gym a little harder this year, this goal we’re sticking to. In fact, as of Monday 22 January 2018, if you see a straw in your drink or if you’d like one yourself (just ask), you can rest assured its biodegradable only. Don’t worry, biodegradable straws still follow the same tried-and-true formulae of ‘suction through a narrow tube’- no training special training required.

Naturally, biodegradable materials are a little harder to come by and often come with a slightly higher price tag. So, why are we doing this? Well, you may be surprised to hear that we used around 1.3 million straws in 2017, so it’s easy to see the immediate positive impact we can have on our environment by simply stopping our use of single-use plastic straws. Joylab is home to over 20 restaurants, bars and gastropubs across Auckland; so you can imagine that swapping out the straws can actually have a measurable impact on our environment.

Still, we’re only a small drop in the sea. Speaking of sea, straws add up to about 2,000 tons of the nearly 9 million tons of plastic waste that ends up in waters around the globe each year. Everyone needs to pull their weight and make a commitment to this wonderful world that we call home, and the other humans and animals that inhabit it. For Joylab, this is one of many steps we’re taking to lead by example - keep an eye out for future announcements that’ll take a load off the environment.

We wanted to thank our customers for their understanding, their support, and their continued appreciation for the wider environment. We also wanted to thank our suppliers - it’s not easy to find suppliers that carry biodegradable product, and ours have been nothing but helpful and a pleasure to work with.

Joy, and a cleaner earth, are just around the corner.