Standards Development

Scope

This document mainly specifies basic requirements, technical requirements and test methods of compostable drinking straws.

This document applies to drinking straws processed from kraft papers, polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene succinate (PBS), polybutylene terephthalate (PBAT) fully biodegradable materials as the main raw materials.

Purpose

Because it is difficult to reuse plastic straws, most restaurants and beverage stores do not classify them as recyclable waste. As a result, the ultimate fate of plastic straws is to end up in landfills or floats in the ocean. Although the service life of plastic straws is only about 20 minutes, it takes hundreds of years to naturally degrade into small molecules. Plastic straws that enter the waters are often eaten by sea turtles, seabirds, fish and other animals, seriously damaging the marine ecosystem.

Plastic waste not only harms marine life but also threatens human health. Plastic waste gradually break down in the ocean, forming a large number of microplastic particles less than 5 mm in diameter. Due to the light weight of the plastic straws, it is difficult to recycle and reuse. The British waste disposal company “commercial waste” lists plastic straws as “hard to recycle” items, calling it “the ultimate waste of mankind”. Therefore, the contemporary society needs urgently a new type of green environmentally- friendly straw. The meaning of the use of a compostable drinking straw is as follows: 1. The compostable drinking straw can be completely degraded into water and carbon dioxide in the natural environment or under composting conditions, causing no environmental pollution. This avoids effectively the risk of straws waste returning to the social environment and reduces the recontamination of the environment by conventional incineration or by-buried straw waste. 2. The compostable drinking straw is prepared from degradable new materials and papers such as PLA, PHA, PBS, PBAT, PPC and PCL. Among them, PLA and PHA are completely recyclable and completely free from dependence on petroleum resources, alleviating the problem of petroleum resources shortage; The main raw materials of PLA are corn, sucrose and cassava, which are beneficial to increase the added value of crops; one of the main raw materials of PPC is carbon dioxide, which is beneficial to alleviate or even solve the greenhouse effect. 3. The use of compostable drinking straw helps to further strengthen people's awareness of environmental protection and it is of great significance for the sustainable development of the economy.

Due to the huge amount of use, plastic straws are closely related to the Earth's ecological environment, especially the marine ecosystem. In line with international standards, it is an inevitable trend to develop new straws that can be completely biodegraded in accordance with industry norms. Product development needs standards first; Market orientation should be followed by regulatory compliance.

Therefore, it is particularly important and urgent to develop a compostable drinking straw standard. This standard will greatly promote human health and the safe development of ecological environment, and will also promote the healthy and rapid development of functional biodegradable new materials industry.