Paper straws are WORSE for the planet than plastic with six times the cancer-linked impact, South Korean government study finds
Paper straws, which a new study finds are worse for the environment than their plastic equivalents.
A government-commissioned study by South Korea's Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment tested four straw types — conventional plastic, paper, biodegradable plastic and sugarcane-based — against 16 environmental measures, finding that plastic outperformed the alternatives in 10 of those categories. On carcinogenic impact, a metric that traces emissions across the full manufacturing-to-disposal life cycle rather than any direct risk to drinkers, paper straws came in at 6.33 times the figure recorded for plastic. The study also found that almost no paper straws make it into the recycling stream, their small size letting them pass through sorting machinery undetected.
South Korean lawmaker Kim Wi-sang blasted the findings as proof of 'greenwashing policy, which fixated on ineffective substitute materials.'
Sugarcane-based bio-PE straws fared worst overall, with carcinogenic impact 16 times that of standard plastic and acidification damage six times as high.
The water-resistant coatings and industrial adhesives used in paper straws slow their decomposition and risk introducing microplastics into recycled pulp.
