Entrepreneurial schoolchildren sell 5,000 paper straws
A group of budding young entrepreneurs from a Staffordshire school have created and sold almost 5,000 environmentally friendly straws.
The students from St Dominic’s Grammar School in Brewood created a new range of straws after forming the Shlurp Young Enterprise company and are selling their product to individuals in packs of 20 or in bulk to catering companies and other businesses.
It is part of the national Young Enterprise Scheme which encourages youngsters to form a business and create a product.
Coriarna Morris, a teacher at St Dominic’s, said marketing plans included directly pitching to local businesses, restaurants, hotels and music venues.
The students are also in talks with universities to develop and design bespoke personal straws for their recruitment fairs.
She said: “The aim of our students is to help save the world one ‘Shlurp’ at a time. The straws can be developed to produce a bespoke, unique, personalised straw - they really are quite exstawdinary!
“Their Young Enterprise product is a biodegradable, eco-friendly, durable paper straw, which the students have designed, marketed and so far have made nearly 5,000 sales.
“This is an excellent project for our students to be involved in. They are determined to be the generation to make a difference when it comes to protecting our environment and it is an excellent vehicle to enter the Young Enterprise Scheme.”
Samuel Durant, sixth form student and managing director of Shlurp, said: “By April 2020, all single use plastics, including straws will no longer be available to use in the UK.
“Whilst paper straws already exist in the marketplace, we feel at Shlurp that we have found a gap in the market - and that is unique, personalised straws for the environmentally conscious amongst us.
“The aim is to create, bespoke, individual straws for anyone for any occasion.
“The straws are eco-friendly - made exclusively by UK based manufacturer Intrinsic Paper Straws using sustainably sourced papers which are fully biodegradable.
“The factory is close to our base, which reduces the carbon footprint.
“They are approved for direct food contact making them a much safer drinking option, have excellent durability, suitable for use with various hot and cold drinks and our packaging is also environmentally friendly sourced from the same paper so helping to reduce our carbon footprint.
“Next year we are planning to further our eco credentials, offsetting our carbon, by planting 300 trees donated by the Woodlands Trust.”
Anyone interested in ordering straws can contact Shlurp at St Dominic’s Grammar School by calling 01902 850248.
