The hottest paper straw affects the taste. How can

How can paper straws affect the taste? How can we take into account green environmental protection and consumer experience?

release date: Source: rule of law number of Views: 2204 copyright and disclaimer

core tip: how can we take into account green environmental protection and consumer experience? Many chain brands use paper straws to soften and affect the taste. The implementation of the most criticized "plastic restriction order" may have to start from one that was not at all

according to the national development and Reform Commission According to the opinions on further strengthening plastic pollution control issued by the Ministry of ecological environment on January 16, 2020, "by the end of 2020, the use of non degradable disposable plastic straws will be prohibited in the catering industry nationwide". This regulation is called "prohibition order" by the industry

now, the "prohibition order" has been officially implemented in the country for nearly two months. As a more affordable substitute than PLA (polylactic acid) degradable straw, paper straw has become the first choice of milk tea shops. However, the paper straw is not hard enough, it is easy to become soft and melt in water, and it has a peculiar smell when encountering hot water, which once again caused consumers to roast. The topic "why I hate paper straws" on Weibo has been read by more than 100million people and discussed by more than 16000

as for how to find the best alternative to meet the needs of consumers in the catering industry under the "plastic restriction order", some insiders believe that finding a balance between brands, supply chains, platforms and consumers is the primary task

paper straw has become the first choice of milk tea shops

it is easy to soften and provoke consumers' roast

since 2021, all major milk tea shops have taken off their shelves non degradable disposable plastic straw. However, the paper straw instead did not become the standard of the newly rich in milk tea shops. On the contrary, due to the poor experience, it frequently caused consumers to roast

Take Beijing as an example. Last year, the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of ecological environment issued the Beijing plastic pollution control action plan (year), which proposed that the catering industry indirectly drive the market interaction, economic interaction and opportunity potential of 2500 enterprises in 2020. Non degradable plastic straws should be banned at the end of the year

plastic straws in many beverage stores in Beijing have been replaced one after another, and paper straws have become a new choice for most businesses. According to the observation of rule of law, the experience of using paper straw has triggered extensive discussion on the Internet, and many friends pointed out many problems faced by using paper straw

paper straw is easy to soften, and the higher the temperature is, the faster the softening speed is. Many consumers report that "the straw has been bitten out before enjoying the hot drink". After softening, the deformed paper straw makes it difficult to suck up the ingredients at the bottom of milk tea or iced coffee. Compared with plastic straw, paper straw also has a "paper" flavor, which affects the taste of the drink itself

although there are repeated negative public opinions about paper straws, rule of law found that there is a certain deviation between customers' attitude towards paper straws in real life and their attitude in the network environment after visiting many milk tea stores. Most customers reported that the use experience of paper straws is indeed inferior to that of plastic straws, but many disadvantages are ultimately secondary contradictions, so customers will not be unwilling to enjoy milk tea, coffee and other drinks

at the same time, most of the customers in the beverage store are regular customers. For them, the paper straw is not an abrupt change, but a new "habit" formed in the long-term consumption experience. Ms. Wang, a 30-year-old Beijing citizen, said that she was a little uncomfortable when using a paper straw at first, but she drank twoorthree cups of milk tea every week and soon accepted the taste of a paper straw. Ms. Liang, a 25-year-old Beijing citizen, pointed out that she would buy four or five cups of coffee or milk tea every week, and rarely encountered problems such as paper straws being bitten and deformed. The overall use experience was not much different from that of plastic straws

many national chain beverage stores replaced plastic straws with paper straws even earlier than the time of policy release. Businesses such as Xicha, coco Duke, Naixue's tea and Starbucks completed the replacement at least 4 months before the policy was released

"rule of law" learned from a coco store in Beijing that the store replaced the plastic straw with PLA degradable straw four months ago, and then replaced it with paper straw one month later, and further replaced the paper straw with pla+bas degradable straw at the end of December last year. The manager of the store said that PLA degradable straw was not suitable for hot drinks. After replacing it with paper straw, he often received complaints from customers about the bad taste of paper straw. The pla+bas biodegradable straw currently used not only solves the problem that the original PLA straw cannot be used for hot drinks, but also avoids the bad drinking experience brought by paper straw

businesses also have cost considerations when choosing paper straws. According to insiders, PLA, as a new biodegradable material, is made of starch raw materials proposed by renewable plant resources (such as corn, wheat, etc.). Its production cost is about 5 times higher than that of ordinary disposable plastic straws, while the production cost of paper straws is usually about 3 times higher than that of disposable plastic straws. Businesses will naturally choose paper straws with lower costs

unlike coco Duke, Xi Cha and other beverage stores that began to use PLA degradable straw, Naixue's tea still uses paper straw in all stores. The manager of Naixue's chawangfujing APM store told rule of law that the store also replaced plastic straws with paper straws as early as last August, which has been used so far. In the early stage, I once received negative feedback from customers, but after the clerk repeatedly and actively explained the origin of the use of paper straw to customers, most customers can also accept the use of paper straw, and did not receive too many complaints

innovative research and development of more degradable materials

change consumption concepts and consumption habits

from the "plastic restriction order" mainly aimed at plastic shopping bags to the "strongest plastic restriction order" which has been upgraded again, the environmental protection campaign of plastic restriction has been in progress. It is only under the continuous rise of new tea, new coffee and other industries that the "upper" paper straw after plastic limit has become the focus of public opinion

some media learned from the degradable plastics professional committee of China Plastics Association that the cost of a ton of disposable plastic straw is about 8000, while that of a ton of paper straw is nearly 22000

plastic straw is difficult to be recycled because of its light weight and small volume, which has become the focus of attention in all disposable plastic products. According to Xinhua news agency, in 2019, the cumulative output of plastic straws in China was nearly 30000 tons, about 46billion, and the per capita use was more than 30. The degradation time may be as long as 500 years

in fact, for catering businesses, the cost of replacing new tableware is not low. With 12 × Take the straw of this specification as an example, the price of ordinary disposable plastic straw is about 0.035/piece, while the four layer paper straw without thickening and logo needs about 0.1/piece, and the degradable straw needs about 0.15/piece. 3. The 4-fold cost upgrade of biosuccinium butyric acid bio based chemical monomer displayed at the reverdia booth is also a temporary problem for businesses under the surge of demand

some businesses can also understand that consumers are difficult to accept paper straws. In order to retain customers, they choose more expensive biodegradable straws. "One is the cost, but more importantly, we hope that the manufacturer can upgrade the research and development of paper straw. We hope that the problems of softness and odor will no longer be a problem in the future." The owner of a coffee shop said

in some countries, which are still in the stage of industrialization, informatization, urbanization, marketization and international development, household appliances must have good flame retardancy. In the view of people in the catering industry, especially in the beverage industry, strictly implementing the "plastic limit order" can not fully meet the needs of consumers, and bring consumers a product experience lower than psychological expectations, which is a kind of harm to brands. At the same time, many experts pointed out that the premise of "plastic reduction" should be convenient for people. While "limiting plastic" and practicing environmental protection, how to ensure that customers have a comfortable consumption experience still needs the joint efforts of beverage stores, container suppliers and consumers

it is understood that the paper straw on the market is also evolving. Some manufacturers use pure wood pulp, which can generally be soaked in drinks within 80 ℃ for two to three hours. The paper straw of milk tea is generally four layers of thick paper, which can withstand high temperature for about twoorthree hours

insiders believe that neither paper straw nor biodegradable straw may be able to perfectly solve the environmental pollution caused by traditional plastics. To fundamentally solve the problem, in addition to designing more degradable materials through technical means, consumers should also reduce the use of plastic in daily life and improve the recycling of plastic products. It is the "kingcraft" to bring their own reusable straws, shopping bags, packaging boxes, etc

in this regard, Tang Jiansheng, Deputy Secretary General of the Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission, believes that whether from the consumer side, or from the production and enterprise side, "everyone is willing to pay for environmental protection, but there is a premise that is whether consumers really have a good experience after paying the bill, which may be the key point"

at the same time, Liujunhai, director of the Institute of commercial law of Renmin University of China, believes that in order to make the concept of environmental protection truly rooted in the hearts of the people, industries and businesses must find the greatest common denominator within the scope allowed by the policy, in the affordable scheme of the catering industry, and between the experience acceptable to consumers, "'plastic restriction order 'is more to guide consumers to accept the changes brought about by change, especially the adjustment of consumer value"

Yin, a professor at Hunan University of technology and industry, also said in an interview that environmental pollution represents rising costs. The increase of enterprise cost will lead to the change of price. Correspondingly, consumers should accept the changes in commodity prices and usage habits, "of course, there will be a process. With the change of supply, enterprises should also upgrade their products"

according to Yin, people are not used to using paper straw at present. In fact, it was used in the United States many years ago. In addition, bamboo tableware, which is more environmentally friendly than wood products, is also very popular internationally, but it is neglected in China. Therefore, consumers may consider using more advanced international consumption concepts for reference. After all, in the face of the "plastic restriction order", establishing the habit of reducing the use of disposable products may be more important than promoting any "substitute"