Compostable Cold Drink Straw Compound (FDA)

About This Product

This is a pure PLA extrusion grade, supplied as a pellet compound for producing cold drink straws on standard tube extrusion equipment and supplied FDA compliant for food contact. Polylactic acid is an aliphatic thermoplastic polyester built from lactic acid obtained by fermenting plant sugars; it is rigid and glassy at ambient temperature, which is what gives a thin-walled extruded tube its stiffness.

Paper straws are the usual replacement for plastic and are widely disliked for one reason: they soften and collapse partway through the drink. A paper straw is a fibre network whose stiffness comes from the bonds between fibres, and water displaces those bonds, so the wall loses stiffness progressively from the first sip and the straw is at its weakest at the end of the serving, when it is still being used. A solid polymer wall does not take up the drink over that timescale, so its stiffness at the last sip is the stiffness it had at the first, and a compostable polymer straw keeps its rigidity for the whole serving. The limit is temperature rather than time: the stiffness of a glassy polymer falls sharply once it is warmed towards its glass transition, so this grade is rated for cold drinks, and in a hot drink an unmodified PLA straw will soften, so specify the hot drink grade. Supplied as a raw material for processing on the buyer's own line; we do not produce finished articles.

It is used in cold drink straws, quick service restaurants, beverage and juice bars and food service.

Bio Green Foods supplies the cold drink straw compound to specification on polymer base, pellet form, straw diameter and wall thickness, and food-contact documentation.