New biodegradable straws developed in China are as cheap as plastic, stronger than paper, and made from edible materials \u2014 but can they make a difference in the global plastic waste problem?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plastic everywhere: People produce 330 million tons of plastic every year. Less than 9% of it is recycled, and about 12% is incinerated \u2014 the rest ends up polluting our natural environment or languishing in landfills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About half of this plastic is in disposable products \u2014 bags, straws, etc. Because these products are disposable, they\u2019re also cheap, so any equally disposable but more sustainable alternatives are going to need to be cheap, too \u2014 and similar quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The challenge: Straws account for less than 1% of the world\u2019s plastic waste, but they\u2019re almost impossible to recycle, and we use a lot of them \u2014 that\u2019s made plastic straws the \u201clow-hanging fruit\u201d of efforts to get people to start transitioning away from single-use plastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most common alternative to the ubiquitous sucking implements \u2014 paper straws \u2014 are less than ideal, though. They get soggy and cost about five times as much. They also won\u2019t break down fully in a landfill \u2014 they must be composted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The idea: Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China have developed biodegradable straws made from a compound called \u201cbacterial cellulose,\u201d produced by many bacteria after they feed on sugar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After air drying their bacterial cellulose, the researchers coated it in a material called \u201csodium alginate\u201d to fill in any small gaps. Because the alginate sticks to itself, this also allowed the researchers to roll the cellulose into a straw shape without any glue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result: The new biodegradable straws are far stronger than paper ones (wet or dry), cost about the same as plastic straws, and break down without the need for composting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two materials used to make them are also found in existing food products, which means technically you could eat the straws \u2014 but it\u2019s not recommended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is edible, but not specifically designed for eating,\u201d researcher Qing-Fang Guan told New Scientist. \u201cIf I were to say what it tastes like, it probably tastes like coconut that has lost most of its moisture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The big picture: The new biodegradable straws might be a better alternative to plastic or paper ones, but if they don\u2019t actually reach consumers, they aren\u2019t going to make a difference, and the researchers haven\u2019t shared any plans to manufacture their product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What they have said, though, is that they\u2019re now exploring ways to create other disposable products from their new material \u2014 and that could end up having a far bigger impact on the global plastic waste problem than any eco-friendly straw ever could.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New biodegradable straws developed in China are as cheap as plastic, stronger than paper, and made from edible materials \u2014 but can they make a difference in the global plastic waste problem? Plastic everywhere: People produce 330 million tons of plastic every year. Less than 9% of it is recycled, and about 12% is incinerated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"They\u2019re better than paper straws and more eco-friendly than plastic ones","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[13383,11270,6162,15187,12388],"supplier":[14659],"class_list":["post-103949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-bacteria","tag-biodegradability","tag-cellulose","tag-straws","tag-tableware","supplier-university-of-science-and-technology-of-china-ustc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103949\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103949"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=103949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}