S Kalimantan's HSU produces nonplastic straw to meet Dutch's demand

Amuntai, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Craftsmen in Banyu Hirang Village, North Hulu Sungai (HSU), South Kalimantan, made straw from wild purun grass to meet the demand of their Dutch customer.


Supian Nor, chief of Kembang Ilung joint enterprise group in Banyu Hirang Village, said craftsmen here make thousands of non-plastic straws from purun grass to meet the demand from Netherlands.

"From Netherlands we receive an order for as many as 200,000 straws each month through an entrepreneur in Bali," he told when Antaranews of South Kalimantan Bureau met him, Monday (Jan 20, 2020). 

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The problem, said the middle-aged man, is they still hard to meet the demand. In one month, they can only produce 100,000 sticks, for the reason of limited labor and technology.

Whereas the straw must meet the buyer's requirements in shape, length, not deformed, hole round, dry and clean.

To cut the purun grass, after being processed through sun drying, they use razor blade so the slice is neat and the straw is not broken.

This is why the cutting cannot be done in a large number at once, but one by one and makes it slow to produce. while using knife will cause straw to break, he added.

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Anyway, he said, he keep trying to produce as much and as good as possible through innovation in the next days.

Eco-friendly straw for drink indeed is time to be produced to replace plastic straw, because plastic certainly become trash that pollutes the earth, especially since plastic difficult to be degradable. While entire countries move to reduce the use of tools made of plastic. 

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