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We seem to be accustomed to buying a cup of Coke to "add some sweetness" to our busy lives when we pass by a fast food restaurant after get off work. You won't even notice the small straw in your mouth. However, it takes hundreds or even thousands of years for plastic straws to degrade, which will bring a considerable burden to the natural environment.

Recently, some restaurants in Beijing, Hong Kong and other places have begun to try not to actively provide straws to customers, guiding customers to start from small things and reduce the use of disposable plastic products.

At the beginning of the new year, the large fast food chain group Maxim's in Hong Kong stopped distributing plastic straws in 164 branches and encouraged customers to bring their own tableware. "Many customers enter the store and see the "No Straw Every Day" promotional posters, and they will take the initiative to ask for "no straw" (Cantonese, meaning no straw) when paying the bill." Zhang Rong, manager of the Maxim's Queen branch, said.

Since November last year, McDonald's has started to pilot "straw-free cup lids" and no active straw provision in 10 restaurants in Beijing to encourage consumers to reduce the use of plastic straws.

Currently, reducing the use of straws has gradually become a consensus and has attracted more and more people to participate.

The restaurant does not actively provide straws and encourages consumers to try not to use them.

"The tall and thin one is Uncle Xie. He often comes to patronize the business and always brings his own tableware." Zhang Rong told reporters that in recent years, from implementing "No Straw Day" every Friday to adding the "no straw" option to the mobile ordering program, Cafe de Coral has tried out "no plastic" initiatives several times.

In November last year, another Hong Kong catering giant, Fairwood Group, stopped providing plastic straws in all its branches in Hong Kong. "Happy New Year! Please use the straw when dining in our restaurant. Thank you for supporting environmental protection!" When the reporter saw cashier Li Yuxia at the Grand Mercure Westwood branch in the Western District of Hong Kong Island, she was reminding customers who came to buy drinks to pay attention to plastic reduction.

"The vast majority of customers are very understanding, and some even praise us for being environmentally conscious and doing a good job." Li Yuxia said. During the nearly two-hour lunch period, the reporter found that all the customers dining in the restaurant basically chose not to use straws.

In Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Ocean Park Conservation Foundation launched the "No Straw Campaign" in June last year, which was supported by more than 20 large chain catering companies and hundreds of fast food restaurants participated. "More and more institutions and enterprises are willing to respond to us, which is a great motivation," said Chen Qing, chairman of the Conservation Fund. "We have launched the "No Straw Partner", "No Straw No. 8" and "No Straw Friday" plans, calling on participating institutions to stop actively providing straws to customers throughout the year, on the 8th of each month or every Friday." "Drinking with a straw and eating instant noodles with a fork are long-standing consumer habits. If businesses do not provide them, some consumers may be dissatisfied." Yu Xuerong, executive president of the Jiangsu Catering Industry Association, frankly said that it is necessary to actively and reasonably guide consumer habits and actively cultivate and promote consumers' environmental protection concepts in dining, such as advocating not to drink beverages without straws, and to innovate beverage packaging for direct drinking. "Of course, it is more effective for businesses to participate in environmental protection than relying solely on government guidance, but this process also requires consumer participation. Consumers should not over-consume and should not use them when they can. They can reduce the use of plastic products by bringing their own tableware and using sterilized tableware." Yang Zhongyi, professor at the School of Life Sciences of Sun Yat-sen University, believes.

Plastic straws that are only used for a few minutes take hundreds of years to degrade naturally

"When we order drinks in restaurants, we often ask for "no ice" or "no sugar", but we hardly remember to ask for "no straws." The Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Hong Kong has launched several promotional advertisements in recent years, and the "plastic waste" images and statistics in them are thought-provoking. According to the foundation's latest survey, Hong Kong citizens aged 15 to 59 use an average of 5.73 plastic straws per week, which means that the total number of plastic straws used in Hong Kong is as high as 1.44 billion per year.

However, did you know that plastic straws that are often only used for a few minutes take hundreds of years to degrade naturally? If a large number of plastic straws are not effectively handled, they will cause damage to the natural environment and human health.

"Straws are mostly used in the catering industry and are mainly made of polypropylene, which has the advantage of being heat-resistant and can withstand temperatures of 130буC. It is a plastic that can be put into a microwave, so it can be used to drink hot drinks." Huang Ying, associate professor at the School of Energy and Environment of Southeast University, said that polypropylene has good chemical stability. In addition to being corroded by concentrated sulfuric acid and concentrated nitric acid, it is relatively stable to various other chemical reagents, so straws are extremely difficult to degrade naturally.

Does that mean that people are powerless to degrade plastic straws? Huang Ying explained that low molecular weight aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons and chlorinated hydrocarbons can soften and swell polypropylene. If plastic straws made of polypropylene are collected, they can be chemically degraded.

However, the current recycling situation of straws is not optimistic. Huang Ying analyzed that although many plastic straws are made of recyclable polypropylene, the plastic straws seen on the market vary in thickness, hardness, and color. Not only are the added ingredients complex and diverse, but the materials are also uneven. Compared with mineral water bottles and cans, plastic straws are difficult and costly to recycle. It is not easy to just sort the same texture and color together. In addition, straws themselves are small products, and recyclers are not very enthusiastic.

Yu Xuerong told reporters that although the promotion of degradable materials in tableware is progressing steadily, the action of limiting the use of straws has not yet been carried out in many places. The biggest reason is that there has been no research and development and mass production of materials that can completely replace plastic straws, which can meet the requirements of high quality and low price, and have certain heat and cold resistance. At present, corn straws, paper straws or other naturally degradable straws introduced in some places are difficult to promote and use on a large scale due to high research and development and production costs or because the quality cannot fully meet the use requirements.

Improve design, change habits, and reduce the use of disposable tableware

"Straws are one of the plastic products most closely related to the lives of citizens. "Eliminating straws" is of great significance to "going plastic-free." Chief Secretary for Administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Matthew Cheung, told reporters, "Sometimes I see people use a lot of plastic tableware in just a few minutes, which is really heartbreaking. Disposable tableware has a profound impact on the environment. We must make changes from the source."

It is reported that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is actively studying waste reduction measures, including introducing a producer responsibility system for plastic beverage bottles, collecting waste plastics at venues under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Department of the government, and stopping the sale of plastic bottled water below 1 liter at government venues. The Environmental Protection Department and the Environmental Campaign Committee have reached a cooperation agreement with the Hong Kong Catering Industry Federation. Starting this year, publicity, public education and pilot programs will be implemented in phases throughout Hong Kong to enhance the public's awareness of "going plastic."

Huang Ying believes that limiting the use of straws is a positive and beneficial attempt under the background of the plastic restriction order, and will have exemplary significance in reducing plastic.

"The straw is the first step." The head of the Cafe de Coral Group said that the branch is studying to change the existing plastic forks and spoons to a "two-in-one" design to reduce the number of takeaway tableware used. "When all measures are fully implemented, it is expected that the overall plastic consumption can be reduced by more than 50%." The head of the Fairwood Group said that while stopping the distribution of straws, the group will gradually use paper straws to replace plastic straws. It is expected that the use of plastic tableware in all branches will drop by 15% after the conversion is completed.

"There is a long way to go for environmental protection actions, and the support of all sectors of society is crucial." The Secretary for the Environment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Wong Kam-sing, bluntly stated that "all plastic removal" still faces many difficulties, such as increased costs for catering companies, lack of supporting facilities for plastic recycling, differences of opinion between the industry and environmentalists, and slow changes in citizens' habits.

Huang Ying believes that relevant departments, industry associations, etc. should increase the publicity of the plastic restriction order. The disposable plastic products currently used in the takeaway industry and the catering industry have seriously increased the environmental burden. Therefore, the government and associations should guide enterprises and consumers to reduce the production and consumption of disposable plastic products. For enterprises, they should follow the trend and consensus of green environmental protection and produce disposable products that are easy to degrade or easy to recycle as much as possible. (Reporter Chen Ran Yao Xueqing)

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