When will the catering industry usher in a new generation of straws?

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Focus on the catering industry, takeaway platforms, wholesale and retail, express delivery, accommodation, exhibition, and agricultural production, and say goodbye to non-degradable plastic bags, disposable foamed plastic tableware, disposable plastic cotton swabs, and daily chemical products containing plastic microbeads.

How to stop abuse loopholes from the source, how to make up for the shortcomings of production, supply and marketing, and how to establish a recyclable and virtuous industrial chain? With these questions in mind, this newspaper opened a column, let us witness Beijing's plastic restriction action together

Since the end of December last year, the catering industry in Beijing banned the use of non-degradable disposable plastic straws; non-degradable plastic bags were forbidden for take-out services in built-up areas of the city; non-degradable disposable plastic tableware was forbidden for dine-in services in built-up areas and scenic spots, and catering was encouraged.

●Several large chain stores bid farewell to plastic pipes

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon yesterday, many customers in a McDonald's restaurant near Youanmen were dining, and the straw pick-up box on the food pick-up counter in the store has disappeared

In a Pizza Hut restaurant on the Southwest Second Ring Road, the straws were also disabled

With the implementation of the plastic restriction order, many consumers have taken the initiative to reduce the use of plastic straws

However, some restaurants have not yet completed the replacement of disposable plastic straws

In a milk tea shop in Sanlitun, both paper-packaged biodegradable plastic straws and plastic-packaged ordinary disposable plastic straws are provided

●A small number of diners complain that the paper tube "poor experience"

It will soften, taste bad, will not rebound, and will not break the plastic film of beverages.

A notice was posted at the food pick-up counter of a Starbucks restaurant near Chongwenmen, stating that “the store does not actively provide disposable tableware”

The reporter noticed that Xicha Takeaway also marked the "Slightly Influential Taste" prompt in the "Paper Straws" option

In addition to paper straws, a degradable polylactic acid straw with the material abbreviation CPLA also appeared in catering stores

●New straws are the key to increasing production capacity and reducing costs

At present, the common substitutes for plastic straws in the industry are paper straws, CPLA polylactic acid biodegradable straws, PLA straws and direct drinking cup lids

The reporter learned that a plastic straw on the market currently sells for RMB 0.

In addition, although PLA straws made of a mixture of plant starch and plastic have become a more common choice for catering companies on the market

Some insiders believe that under the constraints of production capacity and technology, the large-scale replacement of traditional disposable plastics still faces many challenges.