It’s the wild west for straws a year-and-a-half into Gainesville’s single-use plastic straw and stirrer ban. Every establishment has picked its own solution to satisfy the city ordinance. Karma Cream uses a commercially compostable paper straw. Chick-fil-A uses a commercially compostable polylactic acid (PLA) straw. MOJO Hogtown uses a compostable and ocean-friendly polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) straw. So, whose choice is the best? The environmentalist mantra of reduce, reuse, recycle would argue that Starbucks and Opus Coffee are doing the best. They’ve gone straw-less. Instead of using a straw and lid, both coffee chains use a straw-less lid shaped much like the lid used for hot coffee. These new lids are made of polypropylene (PP) or PLA.