The unrelenting and neglectful use of plastic is a worldwide phenomenon.

According to environmental group Greenpeace, greater proportion of the

Philippines garbage is made up of plastics. The country is the worlds 3 rd biggest
dumper of plastics in the ocean and a need to reduce plastic consumption in the
Philippines has to be made. The Plastic ban has been implemented for the past years in
many municipalities around the country. Critics, however, claim that the plastic ban do
not necessarily protect the environment.

Furthermore, there have been reports that plastics actually cause more

convenience to consumers and the plastic ban in some municipalities in the country is

actually causing inconvenience to users. In Los Baos Laguna, the implementation of

Plastic Ban began in 2008 and plastic bags had been prohibited throughout the

province since then. Together with it comes also the prohibition of plastic straws. Paper

bags and paper straws has been the alternative ever since.

However, there have been problems in the implementation of the paper

alternative. Many store owners are affected. People who used to spend only P17 for a

hundred plastic bags for their goods now spend P100 for 50 pieces of brown paper

bags. There are also issues about the convenience and effectiveness for consumers of

using paper straws compared to plastic straws.

In the case study conducted, convenience and the effectiveness to the

consumers and for environment of paper straws in comparison to plastics straws were

tested.
OBJECTIVES

The study aims to:

1. Discuss the convenience and effectiveness of using plastic and paper straws

to the consumers and for the environment;

2. Elaborate ways to recycle used straws; and

3. Discuss other ways to creative ways to recycle plastic straws.

People who use paper straws usually spend more than one straw in their drinks.

When it comes to convenience to the consumers, plastics straws are more preferred

and paper straws that break easily are not usually preferred by consumers.

Convenience and Effectiveness of Paper Straws and Plastics Straws for the

Environment

Belief that paper is better than plastics is not based on science or fact (Industrial

Alliance, 2017). It is based on misconceptions about how plastics bags are made, how

landfills work, the incidence of plastic litter and that non-biodegrading products are bad

for the planet.

It has been widely-known that plastic straws, along with other plastics, are

harmful when discarded in the environment. According to onegreenplanet.org (2014),

each day, humans produce and utilize 500,000,000 plastic straws and pollute the
environment. 8 million tons of plastic every year enters the worlds oceans and

increases exponentially in alarming rates (Parker, 2015).

On the other hand, papers, are renewable, biodegradable and reusable but are

still 3rd largest industrial polluter of air, water and soil (Menind, et al., 2012). A report

from Industry Alliance (2017) says that research has proven that paper production

typically consumes more resources, has a higher carbon footprint and generates

significantly more waste than plastic, even when recycling is taken into account. Ones

mindless use of paper had also caused much deforestation of forests as 93% of paper

comes from trees (theworldcounts.com, n.d). Paper bags, one product of paper, in

comparison to plastic bags have much greater mass and weigh five to seven times

more than plastic bags so they add five to seven more tonnage to the waste stream for

municipalities to manage and in turn results in a fivefold to sevenfold increase in

greenhouse gas emissions (All About Bags, n.d).

Paper straws and plastics straws have their own adverse effect to the

environment. Using paper or plastic straws will never be effective or convenient for the

environment unless people practice proper waste management. Waste management is

the key. To help the environment, it is a must to practice disposing waste properly and

responsibly.

Recycling of Used Straws and Other Ways to Recycle Plastic Straws

Paper consists of fibers. The longer the fiber, the more valuable the paper is during the

recycling process (earth911.com, n. d.). As paper is recycled over and over, the fibers

become shorter and must be downcycled into tissue or toilet paper. While these
materials are still valuable, they arent as valuable as strong, white office paper with

long fibers. Plastic straws, on the other hand, can be recycled towards art and craft

project. Since plastics are generally made from polypropylene or polyethylene, which is

a recyclable material and one can easily make a lot of interesting objects such as lamps

or decorative items using plastic straws.