Starbucks Japan Replaces Paper with Biodegradable Straws Made from Plant-Based Polymers

Coffee giant Starbucks has introduced biodegradable straws made from plant-based materials in Japan to cut plastic use and waste.

Five years after ditching plastic for paper, Starbucks Japan is bidding adieu to paper for bioplastics.

The coffee company is overhauling its straws by swapping paper with a biodegradable, plant-based polymer, marking the company’s latest efforts to greenify its supply chain.

The straw is made from Green Planet, a bioplastic made by Japanese materials company Kaneka. The firm’s forks, knives, stirrers and spoons are already used by Starbucks at its stores across the country.

Now, its straws are available at 32 locations in the Okinawa Prefecture, ahead of a nationwide rollout in March. Thicker straws for Frappuccino drinks will follow a month later.

From oil to plants

Starbucks began its transition away from fossil-fuel-derived plastic straws in Japan in 2018, launching paper straws certified by the Forest Stewardship Council in 2020, followed by paper cups for takeaway drinks (which have their own challenges), cutlery from biomass materials, and resin cups for in-store iced beverages.

Paper straws, however, are unpopular with customers – most absorb liquid and turn soggy (or break) before a drink is finished, ruining the user experience and potentially creating more waste. They’re also not all that great for the environment. Research has found these straws to contain more forever chemicals (or PFAS) than plastic, which can stay in the atmosphere for decades, contaminate water supplies, and cause a range of health issues.

Green Planet is a 100% plant-derived polymer that degrades naturally into CO2 and water by microorganisms that live in soil and seawater. It utilises plant oils instead of harmful oil derivatives, and can be used in a variety of applications besides straws and cutlery, such as shopping bags, food packaging, and the development of future-friendly fibres and non-woven fabrics.

The material is said to help mitigate ocean pollution with waste plastics, including microplastics. The Green Planet straws emit less carbon than the FSC-certified paper currently used by Starbucks, and halves the waste (by weight) created by discarded straws from its stores.

Starbucks attempts to go greener

The move is a marker of Starbucks’s larger goal of making its consumer-facing packaging fully reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2030, while being sourced from 50% recycled materials and using 50% fewer virgin fossil-fuel-derived sources. It also aims to halve its waste by the end of the decade.

With an eye towards that goal, it launched a new paper cup in the US last year, which includes 30% post-consumer recycled fibre, with less paper and plastic needed to produce it.

In addition to packaging, Starbucks is also making its physical stores more sustainable, aligning them with vigorous third-party standards across eight environmental impact areas: water stewardship, partner engagement, energy efficiency, waste diversion, renewable energy, responsible materials and sites and communities.

Working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and SCS Global Services, Starbucks has nearly 6,100 of these Greener Stores, and aims to hit 10,000 this year. Within Japan, there are already 200 locations certified as eco-friendly – and about 900 sites recycle coffee grounds, which are one of the biggest sources of food waste for the company.

On the coffee side of things, it’s working with farmers to shift plantation patterns for greater productivity, and has developed a range of climate-resilient arabica varietals to safeguard the crop from climate change. And to make it easier for consumers to choose more sustainable options, it has finally scrapped the surcharge for plant-based milk in the US.