Sideswipe

If anyone knows of any eco-friendly straw alternatives available in New Zealand, please email Sideswipe.

Waiheke bar manager Peter Leenstra is green around the gills about the number of drinking straws that end up in landfills. "As a little experiment, I got most of the bars and restaurants (not dairies or takeaway outlets) on the island to collect the straws they used over Labour weekend. Doesn't look that impressive? That's just from three days. Imagine how big the pile would be after a year from Waiheke alone. What would the pile of straws look like from the whole country? Overseas you can buy drinking straws made of cornstarch that start to break down in a landfill after three to five months, but in New Zealand, as far as I can ascertain, the only option available is plastic. So much for our clean, green image."


* * *

Hat-makers to the Flemington clotheshorses are worried that the culling of millions of birds in Asia will impact significantly on the Melbourne Cup event. John Kasriel of Kasmo Hats said he feared bird-culling could make it even tougher than it already is to import the feathers from Asia. "What about all the birds that are being killed - are they going to breed more birds or will they just die off?" he asked. Milliners say feathers are in and flowers are out in hat fashion this season.

* * *

A reader writes: "Many can understand how envious the Boys in Blue must be at the new Zambesi-designed Air New Zealand outfits. It must be hard to gain respect and feel authoritative in the current sky blue shirt and french blue slacks combo, not to mention the threat of reinstating the police helmet. The young ones, especially when working in pairs, don't look unlike Thunderbirds Virgil and Alan Tracey. If only there was a gutsy designer who would take on that challenge ... "

* * *

Ford clamps down on pit stops: The Detroit News reported that management at Ford's Michigan Truck plant issued a memo which said too many of the factory's workers are spending more than the 48 minutes allotted per shift to use the bathroom. The extra-long breaks are slowing production of the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicles that are built there, the company said. The memo also warns that Ford supervisors will begin collecting weekly data on the amount of time workers spend on toilet breaks and "respond appropriately".