An image of a turtle with a plastic fork sticking out of its nose is what inspired Leila Siljeur (19), a second-year Chemical Engineering student at Stellenbosch University (SU), to create edible drinking straws from biodegradable material.
“I’ve always had a passion for sustainability and problem solving; The combination came in quite handy when I saw a picture of a suffering turtle with a plastic fork stuck in its nose. I decided I needed to make a difference by innovatively enabling individuals to use straws sustainably,” explains Siljeur.
According to Brand South Africa, Ocean Basket, a popular South African seafood chain restaurant, banned the use of plastic straws in all restaurants in January 2018. This follows an increasing uproar across the world about the pollution created by these everyday products used by humans across the world.
More than 500 million drinking straws are used and disposed of every day across the world. Some plastic straws get recycled but most end up in landfills after a single use and eventually find their way into the ocean, where plastic pollution is seriously damaging the wildlife.
Siljeur came up with the idea to create biodegradable and edible drinking straws about a year ago and immediately started experimenting in her kitchen.
“After about a month I had a working prototype which I continued to develop – enhancing flavours and preservation etc.”
She decided to name her brand of environmentally friendly straws Eat Me Straws and recently won R50 000 for this invention in a recent Allan Gray Orbis Foundation National Jamboree, an event where entrepreneurship is promoted and participants are given the opportunity to “create value and effect change within their spaces”.
The straws take on the texture of dried fruit and do not become sticky when used in a beverage or affect the taste of the consumer’s drink.
The main components from which the straws are made are plant proteins “with added bindings and flavourings such as fruit & sugars”, says Siljeur.
The reception around the edible straws has been positive with many expressing their excitement about the invention.
Twitter users express their approval of Leila Siljeur’s edible and biodegradable straws. PHOTO: Jana Greyling, Twitter.
“There’s been an amazing uproar in support of the business,” says Siljeur. “The prospect of revolutionising straw use in South Africa and taking the product global really excites me.”
According to Siljeur, the R50 000 prize money from the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation National Jamboree will go toward the certification of the product, further testing and toward the mechanisation of production in order to increase the production scale to meet the demand for the product.
“After this we plan to launch [the product] officially in Stellenbosch and then expand to the Western Cape and [the rest of] South Africa,” explains Siljeur.
The edible straws can be ordered from Siljeur via email at eatmestraws@gmail.com