More than a year ago, what is known as the most stringent "plastic ban order" in history officially came into force, stipulating that the national catering industry banned the use of non degradable disposable plastic straws. As a result, paper straws have entered the market and become the preferred substitute for plastic straws. However, more than a year has passed. When the reporter visited catering enterprises in Beijing, he found that paper straws have been hard to find in the market.
paper straw is hard to find
polylactic acid straws appear in the market
In a shopping mall in Beijing, the reporter visited a number of chain beverage stores and found that once popular paper straw has rarely been found. A degradable straw called PLA has occupied the mainstream . The outer package of these straws is marked: PLA straws are also called polylactic acid straws. They take starch extracted from plants such as corn, wheat and cassava as raw materials and can be fully biodegradable.
In a beverage store, the reporter observed that the appearance and hardness of this degradable straw called polylactic acid are almost the same as that of plastic straw.
The clerk told reporters, its applicable temperature is about - 10 ℃ to 70 ℃ , which can meet both cold and hot drinks. Compared with paper straws, most consumers also prefer this kind of polylactic acid straws.
According to the person in charge of the beverage brand, the purchase cost of their plastic straws is about 5 or 6 cents, the paper straws are about 7 or 8 cents, and the polylactic acid straws are about 12 to 13 cents. Despite the high cost, they decided to replace most straws with polylactic acid straws from the perspective of user experience.
Chinese paper straw orders shrink sharply
production equipment low price sale
One side is the expansion of polylactic acid straw, and the other side is the loneliness of paper straw. For paper straw manufacturers, this roller coaster experience from big rise to big fall over the past year is still being digested so far.
In a paper straw factory in Zhejiang, the reporter saw that only 5 of the 24 machines in the factory were in the on state, and there were only two or three workers in production. A production worker told reporters that at the beginning of last year, when their orders were the most popular, all machines were put into operation, and it took two shifts to complete the production plan. Now, compared with that time, it can be said that .
Tian Rencai, production leader of a paper products company in Zhejiang: the output of this machine is at least 890000 per day. At the busiest time, a machine can produce at most 140000.
Zhou Xiaoling, the person in charge of the paper straw enterprise, told reporters that their business situation in the past year was like a "roller coaster".
Zhou Xiaoling, general manager of a paper products company in Zhejiang: from October 2020 to April 2021, the production capacity of paper straws can reach 3-5 million pieces per day, and hundreds of boxes of goods will be delivered every day. Then PLA (polylactic acid straw) came out. The owners of milk tea shop said that the customer experienced that the paper straw was not good. Once it fell, there were no orders.
Zhou Xiaoling's company was once at a low point because of the sharp decline in the market of paper straw in China. However, in the second half of last year, with the improvement of the international epidemic situation, she finally found a turnaround through export trade. At present, the production of paper straw in foreign orders accounts for more than 70%, but the production capacity is still less than one fifth of that in the peak period period. At present, she is working on the research and development of bamboo pulp paper straw to improve the competitiveness of products, Around her, many peers have already begun to sell off equipment and choose to stop production or change production.
Su Hao, factory director of a bamboo handicraft factory in Shucheng County, Anhui Province: we have changed our profession since last year. Now we need to expand the production workshop of knives, forks and spoons. So I disposed of this machine. Now it's cheap. It's hard to sell it at one tenth of the original price.
short shelf life and performance degradation
polylactic acid straw has a high scrap rate
The paper straw is "losing ground". Will the polylactic acid straw, which is highly expected by the industry, become a new substitute and occupy the market on a large scale? In the interview, the reporter found that at present, the market performance of polylactic acid straw is far from reaching the expectation, and we need to make efforts in many ways .
In the warehouse of a straw enterprise in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, Li Erqiao, the person in charge of the enterprise, is discussing with the warehouse keeper the disposal of a batch of expired straws. This is a batch of polylactic acid straws produced by them in early 2021. Due to the expiration of the one-year warranty period, performance has been greatly reduced, and it has been in a state of degradation and crushing when pinched by hand. There are nearly 3000 boxes of such discarded straws in this warehouse, The value of the goods lost is about 4.5 million .
Li Erqiao, general manager of a Commodity Co., Ltd. in Yiwu, Zhejiang: after new year's day of 2021, we have made some conventional inventory for conventional products, that is, degradable PLA straws, and done more. However, after March 2021, the sales volume of the whole PLA straw products decreased significantly.
Li Erqiao said that due to the higher price of polylactic acid straw, some dealers have resumed purchasing plastic straw in the absence of adequate supervision.
In the long run, with the promotion of supervision, the enhancement of environmental protection and consumption awareness, and the decline in the cost of degradable straws brought about by technological iteration, degradable straws still have considerable development space in the future .
Weng Yunxuan, Secretary General of the degradable plastics professional committee of China Plastics Processing Industry Association: 2020, the production capacity of polylactic acid in China was only about 60000 tons, and now the production capacity of polylactic acid is 150000 tons. With the increase of production capacity, the price of polylactic acid will also come down. I believe that with the improvement of the cost performance of paper straw or biodegradable plastic straw, the dosage should gradually increase.
