Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola Amatil) has decided to replace plastic straws with recycled and degradable paper straws. (photo by Australian News Network)
Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola Amatil) has decided to replace plastic straws with recycled and degradable paper straws, the Australian News Network reported. Environmental groups welcomed the company's decision, but warned consumers that the biodegradable straws were also being handled properly.
Coca-Cola has announced that it will phase out plastic straws and mixing rods in Australia in the next two months and replace them with fully recyclable and biodegradable paper straws.
Watkins (Alison Watkins), the company's general manager, said it was part of Coca-Cola's efforts to reduce disposable plastic products. The company heard feedback from community residents who found unnecessary packaging unacceptable.
Terrie-Ann Johnson, general manager of Clean Up Australia, a non-profit group, said Coca-Cola had taken a step in the right direction, but customers would also have to deal with these biodegradable straws properly.
Last year, straw accounted for nearly 11% of all plastic waste.
Johnson says these items are still harmful to the environment as garbage. But composting waste is the best way to degrade paper straw, followed by commercial composting facilities or landfills, but in the outdoors, such items still take longer to degrade and are harmful to wildlife and the environment.
Coca-Cola's paper straw will come from two suppliers, BioPak and Austraw, and will be available to one hundred and fifteen thousand businesses across Australia, including grocery stores, convenience stores, bars and cafes.
The company said the distribution of disposable plastic straws and mixing rods would be phased out over the next two months as inventories were reduced and new paper straws would be available from February.