After living and working in Southeast Asia for 5 years, we have been incredibly blessed to have been to some truly beautiful, magical places. Unfortunately, we have become increasingly aware of the amount of rubbish lying around in paradise, as a result of the complex issues surrounding waste management in many developing countries. We love getting out into nature and our experiences, particularly whilst diving Southeast Asia, exposed us to the overwhelming amount of small plastic waste present on our beaches and in our oceans. After a bit of reading we were horrified to learn about the impact that single-use plastic has on our environment and specifically on our marine environment. This coincided with a time where we were looking to invest in a small start-up project and it became apparent that we wanted to invest in something that could promote an eco-friendly agenda and could, in some small way, make people think about changing their behaviours for the betterment of our planet. We identified the specific problem of single-use plastic straws as one which was simple enough to tackle in terms of offering alternatives and frankly, we were sick of bending down to pick discarded straws up from beaches! Kamiboo was born in 2019. Our hope is that we can effect a change in wider consumer behaviours, initiated by people making an effortless transition from straws made of single-use plastic, to straws made from other earth-friendly, sustainable alternatives. Our philosophy is; if we, as consumers can substitute one product for a better alternative, we will become more open to doing the same thing with other products, ultimately minimising our overall use of single use plastic. We stand by our products, with our core offering of beautiful, reusable and durable bamboo straws, complimented by our awesome single-use grass straws. Both products are completely zero-waste, fully bio-degradable and compostable. These qualities reflect our belief that all products should be ethically sourced, sustainably cultivated and wherever possible 100% organic and chemical free. Our packaging and support materials are also sustainable as we made a conscious choice to exclusively use brown Kraft paper which is natural, biodegradable and compostable in order to be as consistent as possible with our core values. The global, epidemic problem of single-use plastic waste is having a devastating effect on our environment. We are at a tipping point but it’s not too late! Together, we can make a difference by changing our attitudes and behaviours towards single-use plastic, in order to be kinder to our wonderful planet. Thanks for your support, Chris & Alizé