Two new ways to switch out glass for plastic

By now, most of us have heard something about the possible dangers of plastic and the chemicals used to make it: BPA may disrupt the action of our hormones, phthalates could affect our reproductive systems, and even plastics without those two components can contain hormone-like chemicals.

But personally, while aluminum beverage containers can be useful, I hate the feeling of drinking directly out of them — especially when drinking a hot beverage like tea. I bring a smoothie to work every morning, though, and like to drink tea throughout the day, so I've just put up with it to avoid exposing myself to more plastics than necessary. But now I have two new options to recommend, and both are made of glass.

I have to be honest: before trying a straw from Strawesome, I hadn't ever really thought about the plastic in straws, or the fact that using one or two every day could really add up. Strawesome makes reuseable glass straws for a variety of beverages, including smoothies and bubble tea. If you like to use a straw to drink your beverages, as I do, it's great to have one of these; they're wider, making them better suited for thicker drinks like a protein shake, and you can use the same one over and over. They also come in fun designs, which is never a bad thing.

And I'll be bringing my coconut water to my next yoga class in a new glass bottle by Takeya, which can be purchased from David's Tea. The wider mouth makes it easy to clean, and the silicone sleeve keeps your hands from slipping on the glass. The whole thing can go right in the dishwasher.

As an added bonus, glass is easily recyclable — if you break either of these products and need to replace them, you can toss the remains in your blue bin instead of the trash.