Paper, Re-usable, Bamboo, Copper, Stainless Straws are coming in place of Plastic Drinking Straws: say Packaging Experts

Hyderabad, March 28, 2019: The USA said to be using 8.5 million straws in a day! We don't know how many are used in India. But, definitely, a large number of Plastic Straws are used in India every day. If you take an example of coconut water alone, approximately five lakhs of coconut water is consumed every day. No coconut water is consumed without using a straw. For coconut alone, if five lakh straws are used every day in our country, imagine, how many straws are used across the nation drinking many other beverages. Nearly 3.5 million to 5 million straws are said to be used in Telangana state every day. And the number goes up in the summer as more and more people drink cool beverages. Plastic Straws are causing more harm to the environment says Sribach Nayak from Packaging Department of P & G, and a participant at National meet on Packaging being organized by Indian Institute of Packaging. Says SN Venkataraman, Vice President Marketing at ITC says, the material used for Plastics is BOPP. It is compatible with beverages. It is light weight material. But, in case of paper, we have to use little stronger material. ITC manufactures special and high strength paper. Now more and more people are going back to paper straws he says. The cost difference may go upto 50% as we need strong paper for straws unlike light weight plastic straws. Speaking further SN Venkatraman said we may need 3000 tonnes of papers every year to make paper straws for consuming cold beverages alone. You know straws are not used to drink hot beverages, he told. Tamil Nadu has already banned Plastic Straws. Mumbai imposed ban long ago. Two big states banning use of Plastic Straws will have greater impact and more and more states will follow soon. Plastic Straws are difficult to collect. They are not biodegradable to held Hyderabad has one manufacturer Thoran Papers who may soon convert into making of Paper Straws said Venkataraman. 30 to 40 plastic staw manufactuers have already converted across Mumbai to paper straw manufacturing. It is a great opportunity for many MSMEs and SMEs to get into paper straw manufacturing, said Venkatraman Vagish Disit of Alpla and Regional Chairman of IIP says, Burger King and many have converted to Paper Straws. It is a very good business opportunity. With just an investment of Rs 30 lakh on the machine, one can start manufacturing paper straws, he said. According to 250 plus Packaging Professionals who are assembled at Grant Kakatiya for a National Conference on Packing and its future organized by Indian Institute of Packaging, a non-profit autonomous body that works under Ministry of Commerce Govt of India, Plastic straws are 11th most trash found in the Ocean. According to environmentalists, they are said to be destroying marine life. Looking at harmful effects a lot of alternatives are being worked out by Packaging professionals. According to these experts, biodegradable paper drinking straws, straws made of bamboo are being introduced all over the world. Even reusable straws are also worked out. Many big companies such as Starbucks, McDonald internationally, according to some packaging professionals, are seriously looking at replacing plastic straws. McDonald’s, Starbucks, KFC Fried Chicken, and MGM vowed to phase out them slowly. Many famous hotel brands like Four Seasons, Marriot, Taj Palace, and Antara are shying away from plastic straws say the experts. Future is about bio-degradable straws says Sribacha Nayak. South East Asian countries like India, Thaiwan, Thailand and others use more straws he said. MNCs who are in food business stopped using plastic straws. If I remember rightly, Paradise in Hyderabad is using paper trays and I assume they are also using paper straws, he informed. Shirish Badri and Ramakrishna said it is a matter of time more and more shift to paper straws. Ohris in Hyderabad is also using Paper Straws, they informed. Ninad Jadhav says that he has seen some restaurants in Mumbai using Bamboo Straws. I have also seen paper straws delivered to me by Swiggy and Uber Eats, the food delivery platform. I have also seen couple of marriages where paper straws are used. Sekhar in banquet department in Grand Kakatiya hotel in Hyderabad said they stopped using plastic straws. We only use paper straws now, he said. People have taken up plastic straws seriously. Now plastic straws are seen in India and globally as an enemy to the environment. Many organizations have also launched campaigns against the use of plastic straws. Environmentalists have launched campaigns such as #Refusethestraw encouraging people to voluntarily give up straw use. ReefWatch is a non-profit organization based in Port Blair which has introduced the campaign, named the Last Straw Campaign, in India. A school student of the Shri Ram School Aravali, Gurgaon took up a challenge sometime in the year 2018. The challenge was to replace 50,000 plastic straws with environmental-friendly ones by World Environment Day in the year 2018. And has completed in time the challenge. People across the country said to have taken up many initiatives to educate people against using straws. Some of these initiatives include: "NO STRAW ATTACHED", an initiative of a few young girls. Their aim was to make people refuse to use straws. Few Kolkata based girls launched an initiative "StrawWithdraw". These young girls approached restaurants, eateries, food giants appealing them to shift to environmentally friendly alternatives Many countries such as the USA, China, France even countries like Bangladesh, Kenya are putting restrictions or banning them. Peppco Greenwar, a Mumbai based organization is making and selling paper straws. It calls them as Eco-friendly Tableware. The pack of 5mm paper straws of a pack of 10 is sold at Rs 60/-, 2000 are sold at Rs 3000/-; 7MM at 90/-, 10mm at 120/- Peppco introduced cutlery made of sugarcane. These Greenware products of the company are said to be stronger than the plastics and good for health and earth. Sunya a company founded in Mumbai by Yash and Sachi in Mumbai in the year 2012 produce Bamboo Straws. Their brand promotes absolute zero waste and zero footprints and most of their products are recyclable and organic. They sell bowls and plates created using sugarcane fiber, wheat straw fiber, birch wood, and Areca leaves. You can also find toothbrushes, bamboo straws, tote bags, postcards and gorgeous journals here. The alternatives for the plastic straws are Bamboo, Organic, Paper, Stainless Steel, Glass, Copper, Re-usable straws. The other best option is NO STRAW at all. Drinking straws have become an environmental menace. It takes hundreds of years, maybe 200 or even more to decompose them as they are not recyclable. But, thanks to the latest developments and advancements, plastic drinking straws are going to be passé soon. Some alternative and environmentally friendly new age alternatives are being worked out in the west. Paper Straws are being used. Though their usage is limited as they cannot have a sharp edge to break open some tetra-packages, still they are the best alternatives and most preferred now. Paper Straws are coming in a very big way. Soon making them may become a household chore in India says a Packaging expert comprised of Prof. Dr. NC Saha, Vagish Dixit, Madhob Chakrborthy, Anil Reddy Vennum, Venkatraman, Shankar Patel, Sanjay Jaggi who spoke at a press conference organized by IIT at Hotel Kakatiya. SN Venkataraman, Vice President Marketing at ITC observed that Paper Straws are coming in a very big way. Soon making them may become a household chore in India says a Packaging, Experts.