U of R research engineer creates innovative alternative to paper straws

Using food-grade material and agricultural crop residue, a University of Regina research engineer created an alternative to paper straws.

A University of Regina (U of R) research engineer has come up with a sustainable solution for the dreaded mushy paper straw.

Using food-grade material and agricultural crop residue, Denise Stilling created a environmentally-friendly straw that won’t disintegrate in your cup.

“Their whole goal is to prevent moisture absorption, so that you can have a sensational drinking experience, rather than a soggy one,” she said during an interview Thursday.

“It’s almost just like making macaroni. We mix it up, we put it through an extruder and presto! You get drinking straws.”

Growing up on a farm, sustainability has always been a part of Stilling’s life.

“When we were done with our corncobs we would feed them to the pigs,” she said . “The whole process of taking scraps and potato peels and putting them back in the garden, and recycling and reusing. I grew up on a mixed farm, so when we cleaned out the barn, that manure and waste went back into our soil and was part of natural fertilizer.”

She has been finding ways to use agricultural waste products since she started working at the U of R in 2005. In the following years, she started making single-use plates out of flax straw.

With the help of a team of graduate students, scientists and researchers, she started the environmentally-friendly drinking straw project just before the COVID-19 pandemic began.