Photo/Illutration One of Yokohama's wooden straws, made as part of the city's effort to fulfill U.N. sustainable development goals (Provided by the Yokohama city government)

YOKOHAMA--If the city has its way, establishments here will soon replace the plastic straws they use in drinks for customers with more environmentally friendly wooden ones.

The Yokohama government is producing and promoting wooden straws that will be available in December as part of its effort to realize sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The 17 goals the United Nations has asked member nations to achieve by 2030 are designed to “promote prosperity and protect the planet.”

Yokohama Bay Sheraton Hotel and Towers in the city’s Nishi Ward and NAA Retailing Corp., which is based in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, and operates shops inside Narita Airport, are set to introduce the environmental friendly straws.

They will also be distributed at events hosted by the city government and on other occasions.

Ten thousand straws will be manufactured each month, made from cedar thinnings from a water source forest in Doshi, Yamanashi Prefecture, owned by the city government.

The timber is processed into sheets 30 centimeters long, 6 cm wide and 0.15 millimeter thick before being rolled up into straws by hand at a workplace for people with disabilities in Yokohama’s Kohoku Ward.

Aqurahome Co., a wooden house builder based in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward, which has been involved in producing wooden straws, is in charge of inspecting the items for the city and other quality control services.

Yokohama sees the effort as having multiple benefits. In addition to helping reduce plastic trash and utilizing forest thinnings, the city plans to use it to employ people with disabilities and create new business opportunities.

But one hurdle for the project is that the straws will cost 100 times more than plastic ones to manufacture.

It's 50 yen (46 cents) to make a wooden straw. Plastic ones cost only 0.5 yen.

City officials also said that for hygienic reasons, the straws won't be reusable.

“The cost won’t drop unless they're used in many places,” Yokohama Mayor Fumiko Hayashi said, pledging to work hard to expand sales of the straws.