Packing peanuts from sunflower stem pith, biobased packaging tape, wheat-based ‘turtle straws’, bioluminescent glow sticks, and more: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of January 9th

#2 Wheat-based “Turtle Straws” hit 2 million in sales

In the United Kingdom, entrepreneur Alex Bruce has sold 2 million of his biodegradable Turtle Straws just a year after launching the wheat-based alternative to plastic.

The University of Sussex graduate founded Turtle Straws to help address the plastics waste crisis. The straws are made from wheat stem, which, unlike paper straw alternatives, do not become water-logged or contribute to deforestation.

“It amazes me that we haven’t been using these instead of their plastic counterparts for years because they’re just so simple,” Bruce tells The Argus. “But I’m excited to see people adopting them and realizing their use now.”

He got the idea while helping care for his mother’s horse. “I had also been made very aware of the plastic problem on beaches I had been working on, as after finishing at Sussex I worked as a nanny in Turkey and Greece, where I would also teach kids to sail and windsurf,” he says. “I was in my mum’s horse stables one Saturday morning and I just had a lightbulb moment. So, I bought a load of straw and made some prototypes.”

Turtle Straws are available in more than 35 countries. “Knowing I have allowed two million plastic straws to be substituted with a truly environmentally friendly alternative is rewarding, but I feel like it’s a drop in the ocean – pardon the pun. Now I want to see that number hit ten million, as then I will feel like we are really making a difference,” he adds.
More on the story, here.