The patent office of Government of India has granted a patent to Botanical Survey of India for ‘reusable straw and its manufacturing’. The reusable straw is developed from a species of endemic bamboo plant which is found in the Andamans and Nicobar Islands.
The bamboo species Schizostachyum andamanicum was discovered on the island about three decades ago and now its economic potential has received a boost with the granting of the patent for reusable straw and its manufacture.
Lal Ji Singh, regional head and scientist at BSI’s Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre in Port Blair said that this species of bamboo is characterized by a thin large hollow erect culm (stem) with long internodes and has potential for developing into a straw.