Taipei-based social enterprise Wonder Greener is dedicated to local production of biodegradable grey sedge drinking straws, in step with Taiwan’s progressive environmental policy of phasing out single-use plastic products from July 2019. However, straws have proved one of the more difficult items to replace in an eco-friendly manner.
Reusable straws made of glass or stainless steel are unpopular because of hygiene concerns and an uncomfortably hard mouthfeel. Single-use paper straws feel better but go soggy easily, by contrast, sedge straws not only have a resilient texture but remain firm for hours during use.
As an owner of three cafes, Benson Chen, Wonder Greener co-founder had a vested interest in finding eco-friendly alternatives to plastic straws. Chen experimented with several alternatives to plastic, but then had an epiphany when traveling in Vietnam, where he came across sedge straws and observed local harvesting and manufacturing methods.
Farmers around Taiwan experiment with grey sedge to find the best growth conditions. (Courtesy of Wonder Greener)
Chen was deeply impressed by the simple and environmentally friendly sedge straw production process. He said that in contrast to making the paper variety, little wastewater is discharged during the natural material’s transformation into a utensil.
Chen found the plant in historic records in Taiwan and then spent months in search of it, eventually locating some in the central region and then transplanting it to the northeast. He is now partnering with farmers across the country, as they grow grey sedge and identify which conditions give the optimal height and thickness.
It is vital to find the best growing medium for sedge as size affects the final product. The taller the plant, the more straws it can be divided into, Chen said, and a drinking straw should have a diameter of at least six millimeters.
Meanwhile farmers in Vietnam are cultivating the plant and producing straws manually for Wonder Greener and all the while, demand is outstripping current supply. Sedge straws are now available in over 400 Taiwan locations, but with local use at two billion average-size plastic straws annually, Chen is working hard on his ambition to replace one third of them with natural straws by 2024.
Sedge stalks are cut into sections during the production process. (Courtesy of Wonder Greener)
To improve production capacity, the company set up a team in 2019 tasked with automating manufacture. A prototype production line was created last year, featuring a machine 20 times more efficient than human labor in the key step of hollowing out plant tubes.
Hard work has paid off for Wonder Greener, which has won recognition for its product alignment with U.N. Sustainable Development Goals 12, 13 and 14, which respectively call for responsible consumption and production, climate action and marine life conservation.
This past November the firm was selected as one of the 28 winners of the Taiwan Circular Economy Outstanding Enterprises Award, an honor given annually by the Cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration. Chen’s Wonder Greener is a growing part of the global trend to drastically reduce plastic use. (E) (By Oscar Chung)
Grey sedge cultivation helps mitigate climate change as plants absorb carbon dioxide. (Courtesy of Wonder Greener)
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(This article is adapted from Natural Solution in the March/April Issue 2022 of Taiwan Review. The Taiwan Review archives dating to 1951 are available online.)