Start-Up Goes Back to the Roots, Replaces Plastic Straws With, Well, Straw!

A start-up company in Adelaide, Australia is fighting plastic pollution with its development of locally grown ‘rye-cyclable’ and reusable drinking straws to replace plastic ones.

Companies and countries across the globe have been setting bans on single-use plastic products, and South Australia, with its ban taking effect next year, is looking for local sustainable alternatives. The straws Mister Rye is developing will be made from the remaining stubble, or straw, left after the rye has been organically harvested for its grain.

“Rye is a by-product of our local agriculture industry so we are using something that’s already here to fix a current issue: plastic pollution,” says Marion Vigot, co-founder of Mister Rye, who plans to produce a million straws from the first harvest. The first harvest of rye in Australia that Mister Rye will use to produce the drinking straws will take place in December in Riverland, South Australia.