“Not reasonable” to stop using straws without a solution, says Primaplast CEO

In the wake of more retail, leisure and business outlets announcing a ban on the use of plastic drinking straws, the CEO of one of the world’s biggest manufacturers has said to stop using them is “not reasonable.”

Speaking to the BBC’s Radio 5 Live, John Sidanta, CEO of Primaplast, called for rationality, saying that banning polypropylene straws without an alternative solution would not work.

Primaplast, based in Indonesia, manufactures up to 600 million polypropylene drinking straws each month for use in Europe and Japan. Sidanta said he was aware of the growing concern around 'single-use' plastics. 

However, he added that to try and find alternatives to plastic that offered the same qualities at a similar price point was “not an easy job”, adding that alternatives made from bio-based sources were too expensive to develop. 

"We have been looking for the past fifteen years at replacing... polypropylene. We found the materials but the pricing isn't good enough. It's a stuck situation. There is no reasonable substitution by far,” he told the programme. 

Sidanta said that polypropylene straws are “definitely recyclable”, telling the BBC that in Japan they are collected and used in packaging, tiles and stationery. He called for Governments worldwide to decide on clear legislation for the use of plastics in food, drinks and consumer goods to avoid further boycotts.