Plastic Straws On The Way Out

Quote: mikejee wrote in post #2

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Can never understand why anyone, other than perhaps a 5 year old child or someone who is hospital with a broken jaw, would want to use straws (paper of plastic) anyway. On occasions when I have visited a cafe and asked for a cold drink, they always seem to automatically give you a straw, which promptly gets removed and thrown away.

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Evening Volty, no problem with straws but no reason why they have to be made out of plastic, paper is very good we used them for years as kids.

I well remember paper straws, particularly with school milk. There was a problem with them though, despite being waxed to make them waterproof they went soggy very quickly.
I expect they would be better if we made them now but they wouldn't be as easy to make. I would think that plastic straws are extruded as a pipe at a great speed for very little cost, whereas paper would probably have to be rolled into tubes.

The answer is likely to be a plastic material that is mostly waterproof and can be extruded. A complete lack of resistance to UV light would make them rapidly biodegradable.
Something based on vegetable matter would also be a good alternative.

What about old fashioned cellophane, cellulose, like paper, but extruded

It appears to be perfect for the job, so perfect it begs the question 'why aren't straws already made from Cellulose?'

Can Cellulose be recycled or does it biodgrade?

Wood and paper are largely cellulose. .Cellophane is (though not used much now as far as I can see) cellulose which has been extracted and then reformed. It is probably not used much now because it is not as resistant as plastics, but that is the problem with plastics with regard to pollution

Cellophane also has a highly toxic phase in it's manufacture which might prevent the use of it for putting in ones mouth.
Something very similar, based on Cellulose, with no toxicity would be ideal.

Cellophane is permitted for use in food packaging, so I am sure that it would be perfectly safe for use in straws.The problem with carbon disulphide, which you mention , would seem to be entirely with the risk to employees who might come into contact with it. These are already addressed by current safety regulations, an d, if necessary, precautions for their protection could be increased. there is, i would have thought, scope for investigations into another possible solvent (possibly more expensive) in the process.

There's always an answer once the need arises.