How paper straws are made

A paper straw is a long ribbon of paper wound around a rod like a candy stripe, with glue in every seam.

stations: 6
things upstream: 35
raw sources: 10
steps from the ground: 8

The short version

Reels of food-grade paper feed into a machine that coats them with water-based glue and winds them around a mandrel in a spiral. The stripes of paper overlap and stick, forming a hollow tube. Rotary blades cut the tube into lengths, and the straws are dried and collected on a conveyor.

Feed the paper reels

Several reels of food-grade kraft paper unwind together. Two, three or four layers go in at once, depending on how stiff the straw needs to be.

paper weight 60 to 120 gsm

Goes in
Paper
Glue the layers

A water-based adhesive goes between the layers just before they meet, so they bond as they are wound together.

Goes in
Adhesive
Spiral-wind a tube

The glued ribbons wrap around a fixed rod at an angle, each turn overlapping the last. The result is a continuous hollow tube with a spiral seam.
Dry the glue

Some machines rely on the winding itself to set the glue. Others pass the tube through a warm oven so the seam sets firm before it is cut.
Cut to length

Rotary blades slice the moving tube into straws of uniform length.
Collect and pack

A conveyor carries the finished straws away for counting and packing.

End of the linePaper straw

Worth repeating

Marvin C. Stone patented the modern drinking straw in 1888 after finding that rye stalks made his mint julep taste like grass. He wound paper around a pencil to make his first one.
Older paper straws were coated in wax, but still went soggy.