Photo/Illutration Disabled people carry harvested triticale plants to a minitruck in Ina, Nagano Prefecture, on June 8. (Takunori Yasuda)

INA, Nagano Prefecture--Too much plastic in the ocean was the last straw for the city agriculture promotion center here. 

So, the center is working to spread the use of plastic-free drinking straws that honor the original meaning of the word.

The center is organized by 26 groups, including the city government of Ina, Nagano Prefecture, and a local agricultural cooperative.

The straws are made from triticale plants, a hybrid of rye and wheat. They are grown on a local field and processed into drinking straws by disabled people who are working at welfare centers operated by the Ina City Council of Social Welfare.

“I think our triticale drinking straws are an icon of the plastic-free trend,” said Ryuta Kobayashi, head of the farming management section in the city government's agricultural administration division. “I hope they will serve as a means for raising people’s awareness.”

FIELD OF STRAWS

On the early afternoon of June 8, about 20 people that included Ina city officials and disabled individuals working at the Wakko House Cosmos-no-Ie multifunctional welfare center and other facilities gathered on a 1,000-square-meter triticale field in the city’s Nishi-machi district not far from the Chuo Expressway Ogurogawa Service Area.

City officials harvested triticale plants, which had grown to a height of about 120 centimeters, then disabled people carried the plants to a minitruck.

Stems of the harvested plants are cut into three or four equal parts and sterilized by boiling them before they are left to dry for about a month and processed into drinking straws. The straws measure 3 to 4 millimeters in diameter and come in two lengths of 18 cm and 20 cm.

The triticale plants from this field alone are enough to make 24,000 drinking straws.

The straw products are packed in sets of three in bags made of biodegradable plastic, which easily decompose. They are shipped to outlets that include the Minami Alps Mura Hase roadside rest area and the Miharashi Farm park, both in Ina, where they sell for 100 yen (69 cents) per pack, including tax.

The straws are also provided for public events and other occasions held both in and outside the city. Upon order, they are also sold loose to eating establishments in the city.

CREATING JOBS FOR THE DISABLED

Officials of the city government’s agricultural administration division, which serves as secretariat for the city’s agriculture-promotion center, said the city’s second basic environmental plan, worked out in fiscal 2020, cited cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as one of its key projects.

Reducing plastic waste is another key project. The officials thought that spreading the use of the straw products would help reduce both plastic waste and CO2 emissions.

The center set about making the triticale drinking straws in 2020.

It commissioned the city council of social welfare to make the straws in hopes that, apart from considerations of eco-friendliness, it could also help secure jobs for disabled people and boost their wages.

“The city government’s environmental ambitions coincided with the social welfare council’s desire to undertake a broader range of jobs,” Kobayashi said. “We also hoped to set a model of cooperation between the farming and welfare sectors."

AMBITIONS TO EXPAND SALES

The initial fiscal year saw sales of 1,900 drinking straws, with the annual sales volume rising to 4,000 in fiscal 2021 but dropping to only 1,512 in fiscal 2022.

The officials said they hope to aggressively pitch the product in the future to private-sector commercial facilities, such as supermarkets, to expand their sales channels.

Starting this year, stems that would previously have been left unused because they are too thin or too short will also be dried for use in interior decorations and other products, the officials added.

The officials also have plans to develop sales channels for triticale ears, which cannot be made into drinking straws. They said they will approach local florists, variety shops and other outlets to sell them.

Related News