Dairy multinational FrieslandCampina is to stop using plastics straws in all of its European packages. Over 100 million plastics straws will be replaced by a sustainable, certified paper variant in a year’s time.

“It is not easy to develop a strong paper straw that is flexible and hygienic and that does not get soft too quickly while drinking,” said Patrick van Baal, global director of packaging development at FrieslandCampina. “Besides, the straw must be degradable in case it accidentally ends up in the environment. After a lot of testing, we have succeeded in developing a straw that meets all these requirements.”

The straws on small packages of FrieslandCampina’s own brands in a number of major countries within the European Union will be the first to be replaced. These include the brands Chocomel, Fristi, Campina and Optimel in the Netherlands; Cécémel, Joyvalle and Fristi in Belgium; Pöttyös in Hungary and Yazoo in the UK. Outside Europe, FrieslandCampina will also start using paper straws with the Dutch Lady brand in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the company intends to replace the plastics protective wrappers around the straws as soon as an alternative has been found.

The move follows FrieslandCampina’s development of a fully recyclable and lighter version of its resealable packaging for cheese. The new packaging, announced in October last year, will cut the company’s use of plastics for its most popular cheese packaging in Europe by 30 per cent.