Paper straws’ unfair reputation

July 19, 2023
Republic of Korea Anyang
AWAKER

Fast food chains, cafes, and RTD drinks at convenience stores are all using paper straws these days. The majority would agree that paper straws are inconvenient. The straws become mushy when you keep them in the drink and that make people unpleasant. Still, there are some people who use it for the environment with patience.

Then one question arises: Paper straws also use paper made by cutting wood, so isn’t that worse for the environment?

This has also become a hot topic in other online communities. There was also claim that it was greenwashing(camouflage environmentalism). However, particularly in Korea, all paper straws are coated with PE-free material, so the straws can be recycled as well as not detecting microplastics. Furthermore, it is absolutely helpful for ocean environment. The trend of using paper straws was started from a video, which shows a turtle suffered by plastic straw poking its nose. For paper straws, it is easy to break down into fiber but also be filtered at garbage dumps.

This doubt above might be a little complaint from those who are uncomfortable with using paper straws. With the development of eco-friendly and easy-to-use materials, I hope we can catch both the environment and convenience one day!