The Complete Guide For Buying Paper Straws

The quality of paper drinking straws varies from supplier to supplier. How can you protect your business in choosing the best product for your business’ operation? In fact, switching from plastic to paper straw is a simple task. These are a few points to consider when choosing the best paper straw for your business.

Don’t always go for the cheapest option

“You get what you pay for” and this is definitely true with buying paper straws. The quality of the product depends on the quality of raw materials (paper & paper straw adhesives) and the manufacturing process of the product.

Since the paper straw production process is similar among paper straw manufacturers, the cost of raw material used by paper straw maker is an important factor that determines the cost per straw. Raw materials of better quality are more expensive. This ensures that your paper straws are high quality products will not get soggy and start disintegrating in your drink before you finish your beverage.

Look for certification

The FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) is an international non-profit organization that promotes responsible management of the world’s forests. It is important that eco-friendly paper straw manufacturer uses food grade paper that is FSC certified. This means that the paper is sourced from forests that have been audited to have met with FSC’s rigorous social environmental standards.

The product must have gone through independent lab test to confirm that it does not contain harmful substances and is safe to be used as a food utensil. This is important to know that the raw materials (mainly paper & adhesive) used are of food safety materials.

Know your application

Just like plastic straws, paper straws come in different specifications – diameter, length, paper color, packaging type etc.

You have to know what is the requirement to fit the application in your business. For general usage, the standard size is the 6mm diameter by 200 mm length white paper straw. For fruit juices or Boba tea, you will need bigger to jumbo size straws 8/10/12mm).

There are also custom size paper straws such as the bendable paper straws used by Nestle Malaysia in their Milo packet drink products as a Nestle Malaysia’s initiative to reduce plastic straw usage.

Request for samples

You should request for paper straws samples before purchasing. A good supplier shouldn’t be worried to provide samples to you for testing before deciding to buy from them.

After you have received the samples, leave them in a drink (cold or room temperature) and see how long they can last in it. Because of the nature of paper, they will degrade in water, but they should last for at least 30 minutes. This duration is long enough for your customers to enjoy their drinking experience.