Straw wars – a consequential saga: the life cycle climate change consequences of replacing plastic with paper

The current concern over single-use plastic has led to the formulation of policies aiming at limiting plastic use. We estimated the climate change impacts of replacing plastic drinking straws with those made from paper. We found that Kraft paper drinking straws could potentially lead to a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions when compared to conventional Polypropylene. Thirty three per cent of the total contribution of Kraft paper is related to indirect land use change as a result of the demand for land to grow the paper feedstock. Direct emissions of paper straws are also higher than their plastic counterpart. Our results suggest that replacing plastic straws with their paper counterpart may be an effective solution to address marine pollution, but may increase climate change impacts, thus warranting thoughtful consideration.