I drew the short straw and had to take the night driving test.
我抽到了下下签，只得参加驾驶夜考了。
It is the last straw that breaks the camel's back.
这是压死骆驼的最后一根稻草。（再也无法忍受）
My bag is made of straw,
这个包是由稻草编成的。
"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.
He said part of the barley straws will be used to make circular packaging after the harvest.
Global beverage chain Starbucks started offering coffee ground straws at its Shanghai stores on Thursday, which marked Earth Day, as part of its sustainability efforts.
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 material is more compact and resilient compared to paper straws, which will be gradually phased out.
On Earth Day, which falls on April 21 this year, Starbucks is rolling out a range of new sustainable packaging at its stores in China, including coffee ground straws.
"Starbucks' new coffee ground straws are made using coffee grounds and Poly Lactic Acid, and are 90 percent biodegradable within four months under standard conditions, far exceeding the six-month criteria under both national and international regulatory requirements.
Coffee ground straws were first piloted in selected stores in the market in February and will be launched in more than 850 Starbucks stores in Shanghai, before being rolled out to the rest of market by the end of the year.
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.
Paintings materialize out of paper straws.
Under a campaign dubbed "HeyTea Inspirational Lab", some 1.7 million plastic straws have been saved to fashion 15,000 single-use cups in four months.
One restaurant in the park, the Stargazer Grill, has adopted a Marvel-themed decor and added new dishes to its menu, including an Avengers wagyu beef burger with bun, a Captain America soda float, plus collectible souvenirs like Avengers cups and souvenir straws complete with superhero figurines.
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.
Starbucks announced on Monday that it will eliminate plastic straws from its 28,000-plus global stores by 2020.
The move by the world's largest coffee house chain comes one week after its hometown of Seattle became the first major American city to ban plastic drinking straws and utensils.
Starbucks said it uses more than one billion single-use plastic straws a year.
Starbucks also said the need for an alternative to plastic straws grew as the sales of cold beverages has risen to more than 50 percent of sales from 37 percent five years ago.
The CFO of Chinese-owned company that makes plastic straws at a plant near Allentown, Pennsylvania – Fuling Plastics USA – said last week that sales haven't fallen in the wake of Seattle's ban on single-use plastic straws and utensils.
"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.
He said that he doesn't think that paper straws are acceptable because they "won't last more than 30 minutes in liquid and will become soft and melt''.
Lee said that large volume users such as fast-food chains can't afford to use paper straws because the cost is four times that of plastic straws.
Nevertheless, Lee said that Fuling is increasing its production capacity for paper straws.
"PLA (polylactic acid) straws function as good as regular plastic straws.
(The) cost is two times that of PP (polypropylene) straws, or half of paper.
It's more environmental friendly than paper straws because paper straws use more paper (trees) and contain glue and wax," he said.
McDonald's has said it would switch to paper straws in the UK and Ireland by next year and test alternatives to plastic straws in some US locations.
Other cities, like Fort Myers Beach in Florida, have banned plastic straws, and similar proposals are being considered in New York and San Francisco.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, each plastic straw takes about 200 years to break down.
Because of their shape, straws are too small to be processed at recycling facilities and often end up in oceans.
National Geographic reported that the US goes through roughly 500 million single-use plastic straws a day.
Seattle's ban outlaws the straws and utensils at "all food service businesses, including restaurants, grocery stores, delis, coffee shops, food trucks, and institutional cafeterias".
Businesses can opt for straws and utensils made from more environmentally friendly materials such as paper, steel and bamboo.
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.
A British packaging company is opening a factory in the United Kingdom where it will use machinery from China to make paper drinking straws.
The company said it will supply the McDonald's fast food chain and other companies in Britain that want to ditch plastic straws because of environmental concerns.
Demand for paper straws and other alternatives to plastic has soared in the UK since China banned imports of plastic waste, and due to rising public awareness of plastic pollution in the oceans.
Transcend Packaging will begin production of paper straws later this year.
On Friday, McDonald's announced the phased rollout of paper straws at all of its 1,361 restaurants in the UK and Ireland.
The company said 1.8 million straws are used in its UK restaurants every day.
"McDonald's is committed to using our scale for good and working to find sustainable solutions for plastic straws globally," said Francesca DeBiase, vice-president of global supply chain and sustainability at McDonald's.
British campaigns to end the use of plastic straws have received huge public support.
Mark Varney, head of sales at Transcend, said the company is talking to more than 20 well-known brands in the UK that want to transition to paper straws.
The UK government estimates that about 8.5 billion plastic straws are thrown away in Britain each year.
"It's evident that people want to get away from plastic straws," Varney said.
"We did some research and found out that there are no paper straw manufacturers in Europe, so we thought we'd fill that gap.
"He said paper straws currently being sold in the UK have a high cost to the environment because they are imported and such imports have a carbon footprint.
A United Kingdom packaging company is opening a factory in Britain where it will use machinery from China to make paper drinking straws.
The company said it will supply the McDonald’s fast food chain and other companies in Britain that want to ditch plastic straws because of environmental concerns.
Demand for paper straws and other alternatives to plastic has soared in the UK since China banned imports of plastic waste, and after people became more aware of plastic pollution in the oceans.
On Friday, McDonald’s announced the phased rollout of paper straws at all of its 1,361 restaurants in the UK and Ireland.
“McDonald’s is committed to using our scale for good and working to find sustainable solutions for plastic straws globally,” said Francesca DeBiase, vice-president of global supply chain and sustainability at McDonald’s.
British campaigns to end the use of plastic straws received huge public support.
The UK government estimates that around 8.5 billion plastic straws are thrown away in Britain each year.
“It’s evident that people want to get away from plastic straws,” Varney said.
“We did some research and found out that there are no paper straw manufacturers in Europe, so we thought we’d fill that gap.
”He said paper straws currently being sold in the UK have a high cost to the environment because they are imported and such imports have a carbon footprint.
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.
Workers at Fuling Plastic USA pack straws that have been individually wrapped in paper sleeves.
The plant in Pennsylvania, US, manufactures five to six metric tons of straws a day.
[Photo/China Daily]Figures show a growth in jobs in Pennsylvania as the Fuling factory hires people and Chinese investors pour money into emerging sectorsThousands of colored and transparent straws whirled through machinery, each getting wrapped in paper sleeves to keep them sanitary.
The individual straws then moved on a conveyer belt and were bundled together by the hundreds.
"The company started by manufacturing straws and is now trying to grow that into a profitable plant for Fuling globally," he said.
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.
Bamboo, the crowd realized, can not only serve as a meal for pandas or as raw material in the making of furniture but also be transformed into a whole set of tableware, including knives and forks, spoons, straws, cups and even napkins.
In a sense, those orders were like our last straws and we grasped them.
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.
It began to stop the use of disposable plastic straws and stir sticks in all its hotels and restaurants in 2019, reducing plastic consumption by 6 million pieces every year.
"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.
"My milk tea tasted awful, and the paper straws got soft and partly dissolved after a period of time in the drink, which made it hard to suck up the chewy tapioca balls.
I'm considering switching to bubble tea stores that offer polylactic acid straws, which I heard have less impact on taste compared with paper equivalents," Ding said.
Since China upgraded its plastic restrictions last year, non-degradable single-use plastic straws have begun to be phased out of the catering industry starting from late 2020, and environmentally friendly straws are having their new moment in the sun.
Experts said paper straws, PLA alternatives and other similarly themed products are creating billion-dollar businesses, despite the jury still being out on their impact on the taste of the beverages.
"Although we only use plastic straws for a few moments, it can take hundreds of years for them to decompose.
Most plastic straws are single-use as recycling is very problematic due to technological limitations and prohibitive costs," said Lin Boqiang, head of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy at Xiamen University.
"Most plastic straws in China are buried in landfills as other means of disposal are much more costly or lack technical support.
China's consumption of plastic straws is huge, according to a report by China Central Television.
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.
Meanwhile, more beverage and food retailers are adopting green materials for products such as straws, cup covers, tableware and doggy bags.
When I ordered milk tea from Heytea, a chain that is based in Guangdong province with branches nationwide, I was greeted by a choice of such straws.
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.
PLA straws are made of starch extracted from plants such as corns, and biodegradable.
Since 2019, Heytea has been promoting paper straws and helped obviate the use of more than 12 million plastic straws.