Plastic pollution has been around since the dawn of plastic, and everything from everyday use to plastic waste floating in the oceans is a reminder that we need to pay more attention to this crisis. Hundreds of millions of plastics are piling up on land and in the oceans every day, becoming ‘white ghosts’ that damage the environment.
As environmental protection voices are rising and plastic bans are gradually being implemented, a new bio-based material called PHA is quietly emerging – a natural polyester with better performance than PLA, which is not only fully degradable in seawater, but also temperature-resistant and thus has a wider range of uses. As an innovative company, we have also succeeded in producing this kind of PHA straws.
In this article, we will introduce how marine biodegradable straws made from PHA redefine the sustainable straw, and hope that readers can find the answers they are looking for here.
Chapter 1: The Crisis of Plastic Straws and the Rise of PHAs
In Chapter 1, we cover the environmental impact of plastic straws, what alternatives are on the market, what they fall short of, and how PHAs entered the race.
1.1 The Environmental Cost of Plastic Straws
Do you know the amount of plastic straws consumed globally on a daily basis? Current data shows that plastic straws are consumed globally at a rate of about 500 million per day, with almost 200 billion of them being discarded or improperly disposed of. This is an astonishingly huge statistic.
Plastic straws can cause serious subtle damage to the environment. Since it is one of the petroleum-based products, it releases large amounts of greenhouse gases during its production. Furthermore, although each straw is used for less than half an hour on average, it takes hundreds of years for it to be fully degraded. If inadvertently introduced into the oceans, it can cause accidental deaths of marine life such as fish and sea turtles. Microplastics travel up the food chain and ultimately threaten human health.
As people are becoming more aware of the harmful effects of plastic straws on the environment, more than 120 countries around the world have banned the use of plastic straws and replaced them with other materials, such as PLA, paper, bamboo, and so on.
1.2 Limitations of existing alternatives
In the market, there are several mainstream alternatives to plastic straws, but often market feedback, we find that each actually has its own limitations.
Paper straws are most criticised for their poor durability, as they can become soft or even disintegrate after being immersed in liquid for a long time. Moreover, their experience and taste are far inferior to plastic straws.
While PLA straws solve the problem of paper straws, they require industrial composting facilities to help accelerate degradation, which means it is not a home compostable straws. If it is in a marine environment, complete degradation may take even longer. Another problem is that most PLA straws are not heat resistant and may deform when drinking hot beverages, affecting their use.
Pure bamboo straws and stainless steel straws can be reused, but they are inconvenient to clean and may leave liquid residue or harbour bacteria.
Therefore, we have been thinking, what more can we do? What other materials could be used to produce a better straw?
1.3 Positioning of PHA
Our innovation team has finally succeeded in developing marine biodegradable straws using PHA recently after a long period of research and testing. Before that, we would like to introduce what PHA is and why we chose PHA as our R&D direction.
PHA is a natural polyester synthesised by microorganisms and produced by bacteria fermenting renewable resources such as sugar and vegetable oils, so it is non-toxic and harmless.
We chose PHA because it is fully biodegradable and home comopstable. It does not require specific conditions for its complete degradation, and is fully degradable in soil, marine, and home composting environments. Like PLA, PHA does not leave microplastic residues after degradation, but its temperature resistance is higher than that of PLA, up to 100℃. These two features can fully solve the dilemma faced by PLA straws and paper straws. That’s why it has been hailed as a ‘next-generation biomaterial’. In the next chapter, readers can see a more detailed introduction of this home compostable straws.
In conclusion, eco-friendly PHA straws is a new product that we have developed with unprecedented success due to its properties. We believe it will bring new vigour to the market.
👉 See What Makes the Best Compostable Straws Eco-Friendly
Chapter 2: The Scientific Mystery of PHA – From Bacteria to Straws
In this section, we will introduce PHA and PHA straws in more detail. From the production of PHA raw materials to the extrusion of the finished product, we will explain this new material to our readers in as simple and plain language as possible.
2.1 Principles of PHA Production
As introduced above, PHA is a natural polyester synthesised by microorganisms through fermentation, i.e., a granular substance in which microorganisms store energy under conditions of nutrient imbalance (e.g., nitrogen/phosphorus deficiencies but excess carbon sources). Its production goes through three main processes: strain selection, fermentation process, extraction and purification. Once production is complete, it needs to go through further processing such as granulation before it can go to downstream plants to complete production.
Its raw material source has gone through three iterations, from sugar cane/corn starch, to agricultural waste such as straw, to algae, so it can be said that it has become more and more environmentally friendly. What’s more, the production of each tonne of PHA fixes 2.5 tonnes of CO2, in contrast to the 3 tonnes of CO2 released per tonne of petroleum-based plastic produced.
Because this is not a scientific report, we cannot provide more detailed data on the production process and the military. However, this information is sufficient to help readers understand that PHA is a ‘clean material’.
2.2 Key technology breakthroughs
Although PHA has only come into more people’s realisation in recent years, it has actually been in development for nearly a century.PHA was first discovered by French scientist Lemoigne in 1926.In the 1960s, the W.R. Grace Company in the United States began to formally explore the possibility of commercialising PHA. After decades of development, key breakthroughs have been made in the production technology of PHA, mainly in two aspects.
Through genetic engineering and synthetic biology, researchers have developed high-yielding strains and expanded the range of substrates, which have greatly increased the output rate of PHA. Meanwhile, new breakthroughs have been made in cost reduction and efficiency. On the one hand, food waste (e.g. food waste, industrial glycerol by-products, etc.) is used for conversion, and on the other hand, cyanobacteria can directly fix carbon dioxide to synthesise PHA through photosynthesis.
These key technological breakthroughs have helped to improve the production efficiency of PHA and reduce the cost bottleneck. It is believed that in the near future, PHA can be produced on a large scale and benefit the public.
2.3 Eco-friendly PHA straws manufacturing process
As a manufacturer, we would like to briefly introduce our readers to the production process of biodegradable PHA drinking straws to help them understand how straws are produced. The production process is generally similar to that of traditional plastic straws, with the main differences being in raw material treatment and temperature control.
In the raw material pre-treatment stage, we have to dry and dehumidify the PHA pellets to prevent hydrolysis and degradation of the raw material, which usually takes 4-6 hours. After entering the hopper, the raw material is extruded through a heated screw. At this point, experienced engineers will control the temperature of the extruder and die head between 150℃-175℃.
For cooling and shaping, PHA needs a water temperature of around 25°C. The last step is collection and packaging, according to the customer’s customised requirements, for post-processing, such as paper packaging or box packing.
Chapter 3: Environmental Benefits of PHA Straws – Data-Driven Sustainability
In the previous section, we introduced the production of PHA and the production process of biodegradable PHA drinking straws. Next, we will detail what the advantages of PHA straws are and how it is more environmentally friendly.
3.1 Degradation performance
Based on authoritative experimental data, we can know that PHA can be degraded in different environments, but the degradation rate varies to some extent.
In the above content, we have mentioned many times that PHA can be degraded by the ocean. Then what is the degradation rate? Experimental data show that the complete disintegration rate of PHA in seawater at 30℃ can reach 90% within 6 months. The results of the Hawaii Coastal test show that in a real marine environment, marine biodegradable straws completely degrade in 4 to 8 months. This degradation rate is significantly faster than PLA, not to mention that the plastic does not even degrade.
In a wet soil environment at 25°C, PHA takes 12 months to fully degrade. In contrast, field experiments on farmland in Jiangsu, China, have shown that PHA mulch can be completely degraded in 6 months without affecting crop growth. In a home composting environment, PHA also showed a good degradation rate, with 90% degradation being achieved within 1 year.
As a result, PHA performs well in marine environments and is the only commercially available bioplastic certified to ASTM D6691.
3.2 Carbon Footprint Comparison
Before we discuss the difference between the carbon footprint of PHA straws and plastic straws, we need to know what a carbon footprint is. A carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced directly and indirectly by a person, organisation, product or activity over a specific period of time, and is usually calculated in units of carbon dioxide equivalent. Therefore, when we know the carbon footprint of a product, we can understand its environmental impact throughout its life cycle.
In total, PHA straws reduce emissions by more than 70 % over their entire life cycle compared to traditional plastic straws. At the raw material stage, PHA reduces emissions by 50-60 per cent, not to mention that in waste disposal, PHA straws are almost 100 % emission-reducing. If PHA is produced from waste feedstock, the carbon footprint of a single PHA straw can be reduced to as little as 0.5g CO₂e, which is only about 20% of that of a plastic straw.
By comparing the carbon footprints, we can visualise the environmental friendliness of using PHA straws and the need to promote PHA straws.
3.3 Ecotoxicity test
Perhaps readers are not aware that when we apply for a degradation certificate, we need to pass four tests, one of which is the ecotoxicity test. Therefore, if a certain product has an authoritative degradation certificate, it can prove side by side that the product is not ecotoxic. In order to have a better understanding of PHA materials, we will also show the ecotoxicity test results of PHA.
In vitro cytotoxicity tests and acute oral toxicity tests have shown that PHA extracts and pellets are not toxic and have no effect on the cells of the mice or rats tested. Conventional plastics, on the other hand, affected cell survival or liver damage. Because PHA is marine degradable, PHA was also tested for toxicity regarding aquatic organisms. The results showed that PHA did not inhibit algae growth or kill fish. Consumers can also be assured that the fully degraded composted PHA has no negative impact on plants or earthworms, and it has passed chemical migration tests for food contact safety.
In summary, PHA’s food contact safety is superior to that of traditional plastics. It is also non-cytotoxic. Even the degradation products have no adverse effects on the ecosystem and there is no risk of microplastics or chemical residues.
More about eco-friendly PHA Straws will be shared in more detail in our next article, which will include market applications and business cases, and also analyse relevant market policies to help readers better understand the overall market changes and future development of PHA Straws.