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Comment by chmod600 | Hacker News Reader

Wouldn't a light coating of oil or wax be enough to keep the straw intact for an hour while sipping a beverage?

They used to be waxed back in the day. They worked, but if you were careless they would collapse. I think it's a reasonable trade off, but many people hated them.

Wax defeats the entire purpose of making a paper straw. Oil would not stay in the paper.

Just use plastic, it's better for the environment anyway.

My favorite part is when the paper straws come individually wrapped in plastic.

Something like boiled linseed oil will cure solid enough to stay in the paper, though I expect the required curing times on that is prohibitive.

Why does wax defeat the purpose of a paper straw? Aren't there some biodegradable waxes?

Why are you using a paper straw in the first place? If it's so it vanishes if you litter it - a wax covered straw is not going to do that.

It will eventually biodegrade, but it's going to take a long time.

If you are worried about straws getting stuck in animals, a wax covered one will also get stuck.

The entire straw ban is the height of stupidity. Just start a "don't litter, throw it away" campaign and you'll solve 95% of the problem, without creating new ones.

The main concern is ending up in the ocean, I guess. Not sure that's supported by numbers though.

The number of straws that ended up in the ocean from countries that have banned it is indistinguishable from zero.

If people actually cared (as opposed to wanting to look like the care) they would help start sanitation services (trash collection, and proper landfills) in Asia.

Even these new, who-knows-what additive laced straws start falling apart after 5-10 minutes.

But why? What is the engineering challenge in a cheap tube that needs to survive modest collapsing pressure and contact with cold water for an hour?

Maybe wax-coated paper, or a thin foil coating on paper, or some other kind of plant matter pounded into the right shape, or something.

There is no challenge, we've invented plastic straws. The challenge is to use something that the people who are worked up about straws do not identify as plastic.

Wax is a hydrocarbon that I believe comes from oil. I don't know how it breaks down on the environment but it's not immediately clear it's actually "better" than plastic, other than maybe not being seen once it falls apart.

the waxes we should be using are the ones from plants and animals, and they degrade like any other organic compounds. paraffin wax is the petroleum derived ones - and yeah - we should try to ban those.

You do realise this article is in fact describing exactly what that who-knows-what is, right?

I don't believe it was an exhaustive list of ingredients, only one set of concerning ingredients common to most.

i think that's implied in the article, where the researcher wonders why the new straws last longer than what i think you're asking.

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