WHOI researchers develop eco-friendly plastic straw alternative

Plastic straws are all still in use a lot. They are also the most common form of plastic waste showing up along our coastlines.

Bryan James is a researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, he’s been researching alternatives to plastic straws for years.

“There are a lot of alternatives that have shown up, including paper straws. But, if you talk to the average user, one of the biggest complaints they always hear are that they get soggy.”

It’s been his mission to find something that can break down in the ocean faster but is also something that people enjoy using. The easy answer would be to eliminate plastic straws, but that’s not realistic.

“The reality is, they’re not going to go away anytime soon. So how can we use our understanding of how they behave in the environment to design better, safer materials for people and the planet?” James says.

The scientists at WHOI researching this partnered with Eastman, a bioplastic manufacturing company. They came up with a prototype straw that breaks down faster than paper, and it’s mostly made from wood polymer.

They found that this straw as a prototype would be able to degrade within a year in the ocean.

The plastic industry accounts for 4 to 5% of all greenhouse emissions. Experts encourage people to reduce the use of plastic as much as possible, and to reuse the products you have already.

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