A West Kelowna councillor is launching a project designed to make a big environmental impact.
After seeing lots of pollution in the ocean on vacation, Rosalind Neis (niece) helped develop the eco straw, a fully reusable one that's made out of aluminum.
She says just like reusable water bottles, the metal doesn't impact the taste of a drink.
"So it's annodized food grade aluminum, and there's five different colours, and you have the two pieces of the straw. Once they're threaded together, you're getting a straw that's eight inches long," she said.
"You can clean the inside lumen of the straw with the cleaning brush provided, and we came up with two sizes. A 9 mm size for blended drinks - something thicker - and a smaller 6 mm size just for a normal drink - water or juice."
She says because of the materials used, the straws aren't exactly cheap.
"With any quality product, it does affect the price a little bit. We wish we could have it a little less expensive, but to have a good quality product, what we think a fair market retail on it is $15," she said.
"Like anything, you sort of get what you paid for. So we got a good quality product, and it's been very well received."
She says some local retailers are starting to buy inventory, but that the easiest way to get the straws is online.