Halloween Deserves Paper Straws!

With Halloween just around the corner and the opportunity to enjoy more hot beverages while the fireworks are pop-popping outside, it is something we can all enjoy socially distanced of course.

In your hot chocolate or spiced pumpkin latte there will be a paper straw, purchased from the local supermarket no doubt or supplied with the drink from a coffee outlet.

However, if that paper straw has been sourced from China there’s a good chance it may contain plastic filaments which as we know are not recyclable and could end up in landfill.

Firstly, you could ingest some of these filaments while consuming your drink as the straw will naturally soften, which is clearly not ideal. We don’t know the long-term effects this has on the human body. Secondly, if the straws are sent to landfill, they won’t fully degrade, and the plastic filaments are small enough to be washed through the soil and end up in the ocean.

From there they will naturally be ingested by marine life, fishermen will haul in their catch and the plastic filaments in the fish will make their way into the human food chain.

The lesson here is, next time you put a ‘paper’ straw in your mouth think about the origin. Seek out manufacturers that show exactly what their products are made of, that way you can be safe. If the straws are 100% paper then they pose no threat to human or marine life and will naturally biodegrade.

At JBX PaperPax we manufacture 100% paper straws using only vegetable-based dyes and lacquers because we would only put 100% paper straws in our mouths!