Up to 50 billion drinking straws are used every year in the US. While they might look small and unimportant, they still make up around 5% of the plastic debris collected from coastlines around the world.
Regulations are increasingly targeting drinking straws: banning plastic versions because of their impact on the environment.
That’s led to increased demand for innovations in straws that aren’t made from oil-based plastic. Many are advertised as eco-friendly options; and sound attractive thanks to their plant-based materials.
But how eco-friendly are they, really?
From paper straws to seaweed bio-based plastic
A team of researchers at Northeastern University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cap Cod have put the straws to the test.
The team looked at just how circular, sustainable and hardy these straws are.
They assessed 13 different drinking straws – all available on the market and used in consumer settings - made from paper, bioplastics, oyster shell fillers and other materials.
While a move away from plastic is welcomed by consumers, the research teams found that many marketing claims about circularity and sustainability were unsupported.
In many cases, it wasn’t clear what materials had been used and how they act in the environment.
“The details provided by brands and manufacturers range from cryptic and vacuous marketing language to informative and readily accessible messaging,” note the researchers in their study.
“This fact is belabored by the myriad certifications and labels on product packaging that require a detailed understanding of their test methods to fully appreciate the nuances and reasonable claims that can be drawn from them.”
Many of the claims made by brands about circularity had limited supporting data; and little information about how best to dispose of straws after use.
The best solution, say the researchers, would be to create a set of standardized and required certifications to give credibility to life cycle claims and the impact of straws on the environment.
“In this way, much like a nutrition facts label, consumers could evaluate the sustainability and environmental impacts of products.”
Another factor is that products rarely address whether straws biodegrade in marine environments - despite that being where one of the biggest littering problems lie.
Paper straws
Paper straws are one of the most common plastic alternatives found in bars and restaurants. But the researchers found these have their flaws.
The paper product gained a lower score in their research because it takes 10 to 100x more water to produce paper straws than bioplastic ones.
Hope from methane-busting innovation
But the best drinking straw? A straw made from captured methane.
This straw is made by capturing methane (a pollutant with 28x the global warming potential as carbon dioxide) out of the atmosphere and capturing it at the source of emissions (such as landfill).
Microbes that feed on methane then produce the bioplastic material (polyhydroxyalkanoates or PHAs) that make up the drinking straw.
As well as taking polluting methane out of the environment, this straw also had the thinnest wall and was the lightest out of the straws assessed.
And at the end of life, the straw can be composted and serves as food for microbes in the soil (the straw also biodegraded more rapidly than many others; as well as being marine degradable).
Ultimately, this straw scored a net-negative global warming potential: the only one in the study to do so.
Source: Strategies for Designing Circular, Sustainable, and Nonpersistent Consumer Plastic Products: A Case Study of Drinking Straws. Environmental Science & Technology. August 22, 2025.
