The straw forts are made from fermented canola oil and a year later, divers say there’s no trace of the temporary structures. But what is left behind is thriving coral.
Drinking straws have gotten a bad rap in recent years for their impact on the environment, but the maker of a more environmentally friendly straw has created something really helpful.
Biodegradable straws produced by Wincup are being used by Reef Fortify in Florida to create “coral forts,” which protect lab-grown coral reefs from getting eaten by sea animals.
"We were working awfully hard to just create a better product for the world, but we had no idea it was going to be used to save baby coral in the ocean," Michael Winters, the president of Wincup, told CBS News.
"The novelty of this design is that it degrades in the marine environment in exactly the target time it takes for the parrot fish to lose interest in the transplanted coral," said Kyle Pisano of Reef Fortify, who also spoke to CBS News. "The divers can go down, clear a spot for the little fort, and they adhere it to the reef."
The straw forts are made from fermented canola oil and a year later, divers say there’s no trace of the temporary structures.
But what is left behind is thriving coral.
"We've more than doubled the survivorship of our transplants out onto the ocean to above 90 percent,” Pisano said.
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