Drink Wrap
SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BAN:
ARE PAPER STRAWS REALLY A BETTER SOLUTION?
By : FIZA NAWAZ - Consultant Dietician
A
drinking straw can be a fun and
functional way of enhancing
customers’ experience with
a beverage or cocktail. But you may
have noticed all the news articles about
single-use plastic ban lately. This small,
seemingly harmless utensil that usually
goes unnoticed in everyday life has
made it onto 2018’s most-wanted list.
It is used by thousands each day by all
ages for all kinds of drinks. Drinking
straws represent one of the oldest
utensils ever made. The straw was
invented centuries ago and was earlier
made of materials like precious metals,
steel etc. Use of plastic enabled fast
and cheap creation of drinking straws
and thus plastic straws started to
become popular among consumers and
restaurants. However, their toll on the
environment has been large.
Environmental Impact
of Using Plastic Straws
Plastic is all around us. There is plastic in
almost every item we use. Only a very
small percentage of this plastic is ever
recycled. The majority of the plastic that
is disposed ends up in landfills, dumps
or the natural environment. They even
take hundreds of years to breakdown.
These plastics are seriously damaging
the world’s oceans and damaging the
health of people, marine birds and
animals. The plastic debris can sicken
seabirds and marine life that ingest them
potentially harming the health of people
who consume the affected animals.
always used only once before being
disposed of. They are non-essential and
are really not a necessity.
Even though plastic straws can actually
be reused and recycled, this isn’t really
practised leading to the production of
large quantities of non-biodegradable
waste. Most plastic straws are too
lightweight and get blown into the
oceans and other natural environments.
They drop through sorting screens and
are too small to separate, eventually
entering garbage loads and landfills. They
can be transported via water into the
soil where they eventually break down
into smaller more hazardous pieces than
the original straw. These micro plastics
are especially harmful to living creatures
as well as plants. They enter the food
chain ushering toxins into the tissues of
fish and other animals, which may be
consumed by humans as well.
The Advent of Paper Straws
Nowadays, consumers prefer
convenience as well as sustainability
from the products they choose. The
debate between plastic and paper has
raged for a variety of goods, including
grocery bags, food packaging materials,
Plastic straws are one form of such
nasty plastic. They have been around
for a long time. Plastic straws are made
up of polypropylene or polystyrene, a
material that does not biodegrade in
the environment. They are almost
Drink Asia
28
July-August 2019
lollipop sticks and other single-use
products including the humble straw.
The latest trend is to move towards
non-plastic straws. People are turning
their attention to biodegradable or
recyclable alternatives such as: straws
made from hay; ryegrass; or other
hollow plant stems and metal. But the
main problem is that these impart an
unpleasant flavour to beverages and they
disintegrate quickly.
Paper straws were once very common in
restaurants and bars. They are hygienic
single-use products that last the course
of the meal and once discarded, they