Over 150 billion straws are consumed every year in single-use packaging. It’s our mission to help the industry switch away from plastics and to comply with the European Single Use Plastic Directive (Directive (EU) 904/2019). To meet the global demand, we’re focused on developing three solutions for the market: a straight 3mm diameter paper straw, a telescopic paper straw, and a u-shaped paper straw.
At Tembo Paper, we have two main types of customers:
- The multinational companies who purchase the paper straws we produce in our factory
- The strategic partners who use our technology to produce their own paper straws
Our strategic partners are essential, because despite our best efforts, we can’t eliminate plastics by ourselves. These partners are using their strong networks and logistics to speed up the transition, increase our collective impact, and change the world.
In this blog article, we’ll be shining a light on them.
Soyez
Soyez is a family-owned company which is based in Donzy, central France. They are a market-leader in supplying the French market with plastic straws, and they’re transitioning to producing paper straws. To meet this objective and help their customers comply with the European Single Use Plastic Directive, they’ve installed three Tembo Paper straw-manufacturing modules in their factory.
Now, if you go to any Burger King in France or McDonalds in The Netherlands, you’ll be drinking through a Soyez-made paper straw that has been produced by a Tembo Paper machine.
Ibertubos
Ibertubos are based in Alicante, Spain. We’re excited to be working together to produce paper straws for use in the Iberian peninsula.
NB Eco
We’re thrilled to announce our partnership with NB Eco – a Lithuanian company based in Lentvaris, just outside the capital Vilnius. NB Eco will be using Tembo Paper machines to produce world-class paper straws for the Lithuanian and eastern European market.
As a member of the European Union, companies in Lithuania are also bound by the EU European Single Use Plastic Directive, so NB Eco are playing their part in switching the region away from plastic straws to sustainable, safe, and biodegradable packaging.
Why Do Partners Work With Tembo Paper?
First and foremost, our technology is unique when compared to the competition. Our machines can produce paper straws in high volumes (27,000 per hour), with high precision and 100% quality output.
Our machines use the patented vertical spiralling system, which was developed by our sister company, Imatec, in Luxembourg. This spiralling system makes our paper straws incredibly strong, and the vertical setup means our module has a footprint of just 3.6 square metres; compared to the 20+ linear metres used by other horizontal paper spiralling technologies. Our machines are able to produce any straw size between 3mm and 10mm diameter and 130mm to 260 mm length.
While the technical features are important, partners also know that we’re the only company producing paper straws and supplying the technology to produce them. This means that we’ve worked directly with end-users and consumers, learning from them as we develop the product and the production line.
Our mission has always been to create the best performing, most sustainable, and most cost-efficient straws in the market, and this proximity to the people who use them has given Tembo Paper an edge.
Summary
Due to legislative changes, there will soon be huge demand for paper straws across multiple markets. At the moment, there isn’t enough installed capacity to meet the demand while maintaining quality. Through our strategic partnerships, we can expand beyond our paper straw factory in Kampen to help other companies produce world-class paper straws efficiently and cost-effectively.
