Reuse and rescuing the recyclables

Welcome to the October issue of Looped In. A UK-wide ban on plastic drinking straws was introduced in 2020 and has seen a shift to paper-based alternatives. However, is this material always the most practical and sustainable choice? Charlotte Walsh ?? , founder of The Silicone Straw Company doesn’t think so. Looped In caught up with Charlotte to learn more about her mission to replace single-use drinking straws with a reusable, sustainable alternative.?

In this month’s Looped In, we also look at ways to ‘rescue’ recyclable waste – the theme for October’s Recycle Week – as well as providing a round-up of sustainability stories that have been hitting the headlines.?

Slurping the way to sustainability

This month marks the fifth birthday of The Silicone Straw Company – a business offering a sustainable alternative to soggy paper drinking straws. Looped In had the pleasure of speaking with founder Charlotte Walsh ?? to find out more about a business built on reusability.??

Looped In: Where did you get the idea for The Silicone Straw Company??

Charlotte: “It was 麦当劳 I heard a story on the radio in 2019 about McDonald’s moving to paper drinking straws in the UK, which inspired me to try and find a convenient, reusable alternative for myself and my family that was already on the market, but I couldn’t.?Paper straws may be considered better for the environment; however, they just don’t work and end up soggy after a few sips!?

“I was pregnant at the time with my third child but had a strong urge to fill the gap in the market that I had found. I had a manufacturing background in the medical sector, and was convinced there was another material that could be used for drinking straws, which would also be sustainable. Hours and hours were spent researching. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was the start of The Silicone Straw Company.”

Looped In: How are silicone straws sustainable??

Charlotte: “On average, each person uses around 120 drinking straws in a year. And this is the first point about sustainability. Even if a straw is made from paper, it’s still a single-use item. So, that’s a lot of production and potential recycling of paper drinking straws. A silicone straw can be washed and used multiple – maybe even countless times, before it needs replacing. One silicone straw could replace the need for hundreds, thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of paper straws.

“The straws we make are made from high-quality, medical-grade, food-grade silicone, which is extremely durable. I’m running dishwasher tests at the moment, washing a silicone straw daily and inspecting this. The kids think I’m mad when I keep putting the same white straw in the dishwasher every day. It’s been through the dishwasher since 2019, and the silicone straw still shows no signs of degradation or discolouring.?

“Another point about sustainability, is that not all paper straws are recyclable, and I’m not sure just how many people realise this. The glue used to bind the paper, means that some straws can’t be recycled, so they possibly end up as waste.

“We also try to work as sustainably as possible. We’re by no means perfect but keep trying to make improvements. Our silicone straws are manufactured in the UK to reduce supply chain mileage and carbon emissions. There’s also very low levels of defects and wastage during manufacturing and we also use recycled cardboard packaging.

“Our straws can be returned to The Silicone Straw Company for recycling in a closed-loop scheme. We’ve partnered with TerraCycle meaning straws can be recycled in the UK and made into other new and useful products.”

Looped In: Paper is often perceived as very sustainable and perhaps more so than a plastic polymer like silicone. If someone challenged you that paper drinking straws are the most sustainable choice, how would you attempt to change their mind??

Charlotte: “It all comes down to the material choice and how reusable the item is. I would say that paper products have their place and can be very effective in some scenarios. A paper drinking straw, however, is not so effective. A higher-quality reusable material makes our straws more sustainable and allows the user to have a more enjoyable experience.?

“The fact that paper straws are not practical encourages people to look for an alternative, which is where they start to learn about what we do, and it opens their eyes to what’s sustainable and practical at the same time.”

Looped In: Do you face any challenges in trying to convince people about the sustainability of silicone??

Charlotte: “Plastics often get a bad rap and people immediately think paper is better for the environment. We leave people to make their own choices, as we’re confident they will come to realise that single-use, whether that is paper or another material, is still single-use. Our silicone straws are reusable and there’s a growing realisation that this functionality can prove a more positive choice for the environment.

“We face bigger challenges in terms of people thinking the straws might taste and smell rubbery. Because they are made from medical-grade and food-grade silicone, this isn’t an issue. The silicone straws are perfectly chewable – great for younger children – and won’t leave a taste of rubber or fall apart.

“It’s also more challenging to convince people to change their behaviours. A big sustainability benefit of our straws is their reuse, but this relies on people remembering to take them out with them. To make this easier, we sell the straws in small tins, which allows people to practically carry them in bags or pockets. It’s also something we try and address on social media, with content reminding people to take their straws with them when they leave the house.”???

Looped In: And finally, what’s next for The Silicone Straw Company? Will you be having a fifth birthday party??

Charlotte: “It’s a busy time of year, so we might have to celebrate in a few months! Christmas is coming up and our gift boxes and travel tins are always really popular. They seem to make great presents for stocking fillers and Secret Santa. We also see a spike in demand during the festive season, because people are going out for Christmas parties and using our straws. Friends and family see the silicone straws and then start ordering themselves.?

“Our bespoke branded corporate gifts are also in demand during this time of year. It’s a busy time for trade shows and business events, and the silicone straws in tins provide organisations with an engaging way to promote what they do, while supporting sustainability goals and messages.??

“Aside from Christmas, we’re also working on launching our straws into the care and medical sectors. The flexibility of the silicone straws means that they don’t kink when bent. This is really useful for people who may have mobility issues and find it difficult to sit fully upright to drink and stay hydrated. As well as being practical, the reusability of the straws appeals to large organisations that are keen to reduce wastage and material usage for both sustainability and cost reasons. Trials of the straws are going very well and entering final stages.”

Looped In: Thank you Charlotte and we wish you every success for the next five years (and beyond). Click here to learn more about The Silicone Straw Company or email [email protected] to place orders ahead of Christmas……we heard the red straws are selling out fast!

Rescuing the recyclables

Recycle Week took place this month, with this year’s event focusing on ‘Rescue Me’ to help stop recyclable items from heading to rubbish bins. Looped In is all for rescuing plastic waste and spoke with different businesses to find out the innovative ways that they are “rescuing” more waste and boosting recycling rates. Here are their top tips:

Outdoors clothing brand ACAI Outdoorwear

“Create your packaging design with as little ink as possible. By reducing ink coverage, you’re optimising the recyclability of your branded mailing bag when it reaches the end of its life. As a result, it produces a better-quality recycled pellet that can be used to manufacture new packaging products. Our branded mailing bags currently use just 15% ink coverage.”

Multichannel retailer FGH (Freemans Grattan Holdings) ?

“Introduce a polythene segregation process in your returns centre. We designed branded recycling bins at our site, so that the team can dispose of polythene waste and other waste types separately. By introducing this change to our recycling strategy, we closed the loop on 74 tonnes of post-consumer polythene waste in 2023, equating to the equivalent carbon saving of 12 flights around the world.”

Home-shopping retailer QVC

“Introduce an employee plastic waste return scheme. Most plastic shopping bags end up going into general waste, because kerb-side recycling for these materials is not yet available in the UK, and at present there’s no easy way to recycle this type of plastic. So, we ask our employees to bring their end-of-life mailing bags and shopping bags to work and dispose of them in a baler for polythene waste, which is then sent off for recycling at Duclo Recycling. This is one way we are involving our team with positive change, making it easy for them to do the right thing and helping to educate them and their families about plastic recycling.”

How do you rescue plastic and stop it from heading to general waste? Let us know in the comments.?

All Packaged Up, a snapshot of news and views

A round-up of news stories and articles that have caught the attention of the Looped In team over the past few weeks.?

Unravelling the myths of plastic recycling

“Scores of full lifecycle studies have shown that in 93 per cent of packaging cases, plastic is the option with the smallest environmental impact.” This point, along with many other interesting perspectives about plastic recycling, was made in a recent Daily Telegraph article. The piece looks at the confusion around recycling that exists among consumers, as well as what’s holding back recycling in the UK. Another point that stood out for Looped In: "The plastic tax has helped, but not enough, if we had price stability for secondary plastics we would have a booming UK recycling sector." Have a read and let us know what you think.?

Can invisible barcodes enhance recycling practices?

Traditional on-pack barcodes can be difficult for sorting machines to read, and especially in materials recovery facilities. This can contribute to one of the biggest problems facing recycling – the mixing of non-recyclable materials with recyclables. Invisible barcodes could provide a solution to this problem to enhance recycling rates. Barcodes of this type often take the form of a digital watermark, with information embedded into a packaging material. Invisible to the naked eye, these watermarks can be detected by advanced sorting machines, which read hidden data about the material composition to improve the accuracy of material sorting during recycling. You can read more about invisible barcodes via Packaging Gateway.

The growing importance of ‘green packaging’.?

A report in International Supermarket News highlights that over 70% of consumers prefer to purchase products with eco-friendly packaging, with this trend not limited to specific demographics. With this in mind, it’s pivotal that, in the next five years, retailers and producers must adopt ‘green packaging solutions’ to avoid falling behind in markets or even closure. Eco-friendly packaging can provide businesses with a competitive edge in increasingly crowded markets. What do you think? How influential is packaging sustainability to your purchasing?

Major supermarkets accused of misleading shoppers over recycling?

The Independent was amongst a number of media outlets that reported about soft plastic recycling schemes at Tesco and Sainsbury’s. Everyday Plastic and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) placed trackers in bundles of soft plastics collected at the supermarkets. This found that, in some cases, the plastic was burnt for energy or downcycled into lower value products. Criticism was aimed at the supermarkets and calls made for them to back global plastic reduction targets. However, is this call-for-action and criticism misplaced? Supermarkets are making efforts to collect used packaging, and the real issue appears to be that there’s not sufficient closed-loop recycling infrastructure in the UK to back up their initiatives. What do you think??

Let us know if any recent packaging, recycling, sustainability and circularity stories have caught your eye. Please share in the comments.?