YKK Group’s Cafe Bonfino Co., Ltd. (*1) will switch from plastic straws to straws made from plant-derived materials in consideration of the environment. The coffee straw adopted by the company is an environmentally-friendly natural circulation resin product made from extracted coffee powder and plant-derived polylactic acid resin (*2). After being used as a straw, it can be composted at a composting facility. When incinerated, it has a lower combustion energy than oil-derived plastic straws.
Café Bonfino Co., Ltd. uses approximately 10,000 plastic straws a year. Of the five stores that will make the switch, the three coffee shops (the Sumida-ku, Tokyo main branch, the Akihabara, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo branch and the Kurobe City Passive Town branch) have already switched to the new coffee straws, and the two restaurants (CIELO E MARE and Al Settimo Cielo in Sumida-ku, Tokyo) will make the switch sequentially.
(* 1) The YKK Group entered Brazil in 1972 as a fastening business, and started the coffee business in 1985. Coffee beans grown on the vast, 33 million tsubo (approx. 42 sq mi) YKK farm in the Cerrado, Brazil’s central plateau, are certified as specialty coffee by the American Specialty Coffee Association. Cafe Bonfino Co., Ltd. roasts and sells coffee beans in Japan imported directly from the farm. Its cafes and restaurants offer high-quality coffee.
(* 2) Polylactic acid resin is a plant-derived plastic material combined with lactic acid produced from corn. The coffee straw that was adopted is an eco-product made mainly from naturally-derived raw materials and bagasse (sugar cane), and contains extracted coffee powder. It is sold by Edogawa Bussan Co., Ltd. (Kasugai City, Aichi Prefecture).
