"Under such circumstances, the main business of Qudian is shrinking and its core competitiveness is gradually losing, so it is urgent to explore new business growth points," said Mo, adding that ready-to-eat food might be the last lifesaving straw.

莫表示：“在这种情况下，趣店的主营业务正在萎缩，其核心竞争力正在逐渐丧失，因此迫切需要探索新的业务增长点。”他补充道，即食食品可能是最后的救命稻草。

"Syngenta Group and our partners are encouraging farmers to not burn leftover straw in their fields and incorporate their straw and crop leftovers into the soil," said Erik Fyrwald, the group's CEO.

Made using coffee grounds and Poly Lactic Acid (PLA), a material suitable for food and beverage packaging, the special straw is now available across the city's 850 Starbucks stores.

The straw will subsequently be introduced to its stores across the Chinese mainland by the end of the year, the company announced in a press release.

According to Starbucks, the new straw is 90 percent biodegradable within four months under standard conditions, which exceeds the six-month criteria under both national and international regulatory requirements.

The integral reuse rate of coal gangue, fly ash, byproduct gypsum, and straw reached 70 percent, 78 percent, 70 percent and 86 percent, respectively.

The arrival of the "black swan" in the novel coronavirus outbreak became the last straw that crushed many startups.

While local farmers earned a total of 100 million yuan ($14.9 million) per year selling straw, industries associated with the new power plant have created 4,000 jobs, said Li during an interview at the annual meetings of China's top legislature and top political advisory body.

McDonald's China will continue to actively reduce packaging materials, and from November 2018, solutions aimed at reducing straw use will be piloted in some restaurants in Beijing.

"Our overall straw sales have not declined but are still growing slightly despite all the recent negativities," Gilbert Lee, CFO of Fuling Global Inc, said in an email.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, each plastic straw takes about 200 years to break down.

Hyatt Hotels on Monday announced that starting in September hotel visitors will have to request single-use plastic straw and drink picks, while eco-friendly alternatives will be provided where available.

"We did some research and found out that there are no paper straw manufacturers in Europe, so we thought we'd fill that gap.

“We did some research and found out that there are no paper straw manufacturers in Europe, so we thought we’d fill that gap.

The chemical company is seeking Chinese partners to commercialize its technology named Sunliquid that converts agricultural residues such as cereal straw, into cellulosic ethanol for vehicles, a form of renewable energy that can be produced from crops such as corn and potatoes.

From its factory in Anshun, a city in Southwest China's Guizhou province, Topseat creates decorative toilet seats from locally sourced, environmentally friendly materials such as bamboo, straw stalks and bio-glues.

In 2014, the company took the lead to make toilet seat covers from straw stalks to turn this potential environmental hazard into a business opportunity.

Topseat has an agreement with Xiayun township in Anshun, which buys straw stalks from local farmers on behalf of the company.

Sales of toilet seats made of straw stalk are expected to reach more than 200,000 pieces this year.

From its factory in Anshun, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Topseat creates bright decorative toilet seats from locally sourced materials such as bamboo, straw stalks and bio-glues.

Topseat has signed a contract with Xiayun township in Anshun, which purchases straw stalks from local farmers on behalf of the company to turn the potential environmental hazards into business opportunity.

Additionally, to reduce the cost of raising cattle, the banner has invested more than 10 million yuan for the introduction of straw comprehensive utilization technology, that can turn corn straw that would typically cause pollution when burning into "sweet pastry".

At present, this technology has made the comprehensive utilization rate of straw there reach 90 percent.

The comprehensive utilization rate of crop straw will remain above 86 percent, and the comprehensive utilization rate of both bulk solid waste and construction waste is set to reach 60 percent.

The comprehensive utilization rate of crop straw will remain above 86 percent, and the comprehensive utilization rate of both bulk solid waste and construction waster is set to reach 60 percent.

For instance, sales of straw tote bags and knitted fabrics made of organic cotton with antibacterial function increased 78 percent and 49 percent year-on-year, respectively.

"I have five ginkgo and five plum trees, strawberries, grapes, two pomegranate trees, a passion fruit vine and one tree each for lemons, apples and cherries, as well as various seasonal flowers, including hydrangea, gardenia, straw daisy, rose, frangipani and blue lotus.

While the largest contributing sources are estimated to be residues from annual crop production like wheat straw, much of the straw and stalks are presently used for cooking and heating in rural households at low efficiencies, according to BioEnergy Consult, an international consulting service provider based in Aligarh, India, in the waste-to-energy sector.

Given that the cost of transportation and storage of farm waste is still relatively high, many farmers would rather burn straw and crop waste for heating at home, or haul agricultural residues directly to landfills, than selling them to power plants to produce energy, said Lin Boqiang, head of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University in Fujian province.

China's biomass energy resources mainly include straw and other agricultural wastes, such as waste from forestry and forest product processing, animal manure, energy crops and plantations, organic effluents from industry and household waste, which can be burned directly for heat or converted to renewable gaseous and liquid fuels through chemical, thermal and biochemical processes.

Plastic varieties can take centuries to decompose into particles, while newer versions are designed to quickly biodegradeFor bubble tea buff Ding Yi, it's the third time this week that his drink tasted like wet cardboard, with the culprit being a paper straw.

The report said the cumulative output of plastic straws was about 30,000 metric tons in 2019, and the average annual plastic straw use per capita stood at over 30 units.

I was able to choose from among a variety of straws made of paper, or environmentally friendly polylactic acid (PLA) materials, or not to use any straw at all.

The world's largest straw manufacturer Soton Daily Necessities, located in Yiwu, has been struggling as its stock piles up.

The novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic seemed like the last straw for debt-ridden Hainan Airlines Group, which turned to the Hainan provincial government for help to survive.

The epidemic could also be the straw to break the back of the catering businesses, which have been squeezed hard by rising raw material costs and razor-thin profits throughout 2019.

The utilization rate of livestock manure has reached 70 percent and that of crop straw surpassed 83 percent, while over 60 percent of used agricultural plastic film is recycled.

In Heilongjiang province, State Power Investment Corp has been working on a technology to compress corn straw, residues and agricultural and associated processing wastes into fuel to provide clean heating to local residents.

As the country's first domestic biomass green energy particle technology, it will make better use of the availability of large quantities of corn straw and other residues, breaking the bottleneck of inconvenient transportation and storage for biomass energy utilization, said Ma Mingjun, general manager of Shanghai Power Equipment Research Institute Co Ltd. Biomass, such as agricultural and forestry products, organic household waste as well as livestock and industrial refuse, are some of the biological materials used as fuels in producing electricity and heat.

State Power Investment Corp's attempt to compress corn straw, understory residues and agricultural and related processing wastes into fuel, however, is expected to represent a breakthrough for biomass heating in the country, said Luo Zuoxian, head of intelligence and research at the Sinopec Economics and Development Research Institute.

"Frankly, this is the final straw," he tweeted.

It cost 700 million yuan and almost became the last straw.

As most of such Chinese companies are real estate firms, this may be the straw that breaks the camel's back and bring further deterioration of overseas financing.

The government will impose a ban on new additions to steel production capacity and straw burning in key areas, it said.