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Papers
61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Un/Making the Plastic Straw: Designerly Inquiries into Disposability
ClearHow plastic is our plastic culture? Reducing our consumption of single-use plastics
This paper examines the cultural and economic forces that have made single-use plastics so embedded in modern life, making them difficult to reduce despite known environmental harms. Understanding the social dimensions of plastic consumption — not just technical solutions — is essential for effectively reducing the microplastic pollution they ultimately generate.
Bio-based alternatives to plastic drinking straws: are they more environmentally benign and consumer preferred?
This study evaluated bio-based alternatives to conventional plastic drinking straws, assessing the environmental footprint of paper and polylactic acid straws versus plastic and comparing their functional properties including user experience.
Design Aesthetics Methods: Chinese Graduate Students Using Laundry Bags in the UK as an Example
This paper is not about microplastics; it is a design research methods article using Chinese graduate students' use of laundry bags in the UK as a case study to demonstrate design research processes.
Evaluation of paper straws versus plastic straws: Development of a methodology for testing and understanding challenges for paper straws
This study developed a methodology for testing the performance of paper straws as alternatives to plastic straws, evaluating their structural integrity, taste neutrality, and environmental impact under realistic use conditions. The work addresses the need for objective evaluation of plastic straw alternatives as regulations drive substitution away from single-use plastics.
Sustainable management of drinking plastic straws is required to reduce plastic pollution: Are we using them more during COVID-19?
Researchers examined sustainable management approaches for single-use plastic drinking straws, finding that COVID-19 pandemic conditions increased plastic straw consumption alongside other pandemic-related plastic waste, underscoring the need for improved waste management policies.
Evaluation and future development direction of paper straw and plastic straw
This review evaluates the environmental trade-offs of replacing plastic straws with paper straws, examining lifecycle impacts, material properties, and waste management outcomes. The authors find that while paper straws reduce persistent plastic pollution, their production and disposal also carry environmental costs, and that neither option is entirely without impact.
Trash Talk: WHO Uses Which Reusable Product? User Insights and Design Opportunities for Single-use Alternatives
This multi-country study surveyed use of reusable products as substitutes for single-use plastics, identifying which consumer segments already use reusable alternatives and what design features would make them more broadly adopted.
Plasticless: a Comparative Life-cycle, Socio-economic, and Policy Analysis of Alternatives to Plastic Straws
A life-cycle analysis compared ten types of drinking straws, finding that while plastic straws have the highest environmental impact, some alternatives like glass and metal require significant energy to produce and clean. This analysis illustrates that no single-use plastic alternative is without environmental trade-offs.
Our life with plastic, a review of plastic product abuse in the age of consumerism
This review examines the psychology, sociology, and culture of plastic consumerism alongside the scientific evidence for microplastic health harms, arguing that social sciences should complement natural science research by promoting rational product choices and awareness.
An Environmental and Cost Comparison Between Polypropylene Plastic Drinking Straws and a "Greener" Alternative: An Oberlin Case Study
This paper compares the environmental impact and cost of plastic versus paper drinking straws, finding that plastic straws are one of the most commonly littered items that harm marine ecosystems. The analysis supports policy arguments for reducing single-use plastic straw consumption.
Wasted: towards a critical research agenda for disposability in leisure
This paper calls for leisure studies scholars to place disposability and plastic waste at the center of their research agenda, arguing that leisure practices are deeply implicated in producing the microplastic pollution accumulating in oceans and ecosystems worldwide.
Evaluating the Environmental and Health Impacts of Disposable Plastics: Toward Sustainable Material Alternatives
This review examined the environmental and health impacts of disposable plastics and explored sustainable alternatives, drawing on secondary literature across environmental science and health disciplines. The paper assessed plastic waste contributions to ocean pollution and proposed strategies to mitigate these challenges.
Analysing Influence of Product Attributes And Customer Characteristics Towards Customer’s Purchase Intention on Edible Cutlery
Researchers analysed how product attributes and customer characteristics influence purchase intention for edible cutlery in Indonesia, framing the study against the country's ranking as the world's fourth largest plastic straw-consuming nation. The study evaluated consumer acceptance of edible straws as a biodegradable alternative to single-use plastic cutlery, identifying key drivers and barriers to adoption.
From Menstrual Care to Environmental Care
This study examines the intersection of menstrual care product design and environmental sustainability, exploring how design choices in menstrual products contribute to plastic pollution and microplastic release. The work investigates design alternatives and user perspectives within the context of transitioning from menstrual care toward more environmentally responsible product systems.
Life Cycle Assessment of Selected Single-Use Plastic Products towards Evidence-Based Policy Recommendations in Sri Lanka
Researchers applied life cycle assessment to common single-use plastic products in Sri Lanka, quantifying their environmental impacts across production to disposal and providing evidence-based recommendations to guide national plastic pollution policy.
Why is there plastic packaging in the natural environment? Understanding the roots of our individual plastic waste management behaviours
This review explores why individuals mismanage plastic packaging waste, finding that the disconnect between discarding behavior and its visible consequences is a key factor, as is the deep historical rootedness of waste disposal habits in different cultures. The authors argue that policies to reduce plastic littering face fundamental behavioral constraints that require approaches beyond simple regulation.
Does One Straw Really Matter?
This brief piece explores the environmental consequences of single-use plastic items like straws, examining where plastic waste ends up after disposal and what cumulative effects millions of small plastic items have on ecosystems, wildlife, and human health when they fragment into microplastics.
Edible Straws as Promising Biodegradable Alternatives to Single-Use Plastics: A Comprehensive Review
Single-use plastic straws are a small but symbolic part of the microplastics problem, and this review surveys research into edible straws as a biodegradable alternative, covering materials ranging from cassava starch and seaweed to cellulose and proteins. Lab results are promising — cellulose-based versions show good strength, seaweed-based ones biodegrade quickly, and life cycle analyses confirm ecological advantages over plastic — but challenges including high production costs, short shelf life, and lack of regulatory standards are holding back commercial adoption. The review concludes that realizing the potential of edible straws will require coordination across material science, food engineering, and policy.
Evaluating the Environmental and Health Impacts of Disposable Plastics: Toward Sustainable Material Alternatives
This review synthesized evidence on the environmental and health impacts of disposable plastics, drawing on environmental science, health studies, and sustainability literature. The paper examined how plastic waste drives ocean pollution and wildlife harm while exploring sustainable alternative materials and policies.
Waste Journeys
This multidisciplinary study examined plastic waste as a material of the Anthropocene by tracing the journeys of plastic objects across cultural, natural, marine, and terrestrial landscapes, exploring how plastic's resilience makes it a defining and problematic artifact of modern civilization.
Role of Plastics in Modern Life: Benefits, Risks and Environmental Consequences
This review examines the dual role of plastics in modern society — their economic benefits alongside environmental and public health risks — and surveys strategies for more sustainable plastic production and disposal.
The Critical Importance of Adopting Whole-of-Life Strategies for Polymers and Plastics
This review argues that plastics must be managed across their entire life cycle—from design to disposal—to address the growing crisis of microplastic pollution. The authors call for replacing the current 'disposable' mindset with strategies that prioritize durability, recyclability, and eventually biodegradability.
A Field Experiment on Reducing Drinking Straw Consumption by Default
Researchers found that setting the default to not providing a plastic straw (requiring customers to actively request one) significantly reduced straw consumption compared to offering straws automatically. The study demonstrates that simple default-change nudges can meaningfully shift plastic use behaviors without requiring outright bans.
A Study on Microplastic Emission from Disposable Straws and Its Dietary Relevance
Researchers systematically quantified microplastic release from polypropylene and polylactic acid straws across three beverage matrices (deionized water, cola, and skim milk) at temperatures from 25°C to 65°C, using FTIR, micro-FTIR, SEM, and optical microscopy to characterize MP size reduction and dietary exposure implications.