“You are my favourite cup of tea.”
– Every Cheesy Pickup Line Ever.
During the recent Circuit Breaker period, the Singapore government restricted the opening of businesses to prevent further escalation of the number of COVID-19 community cases – and this included the temporary closure of bubble tea shops. It doesn’t matter if you are one of those frantic bubble tea fans rushing to get your last cup of bubble tea or those paying close attention to the news on 21 April, you would have realised that Singaporeans really do love their bubble tea a lot. Here is a short throwback video of the bubble tea situation then:
(Micro)Plastic Pollution
Besides the enjoyment of a quick sugar fix or the chewy texture of the bubble tea pearls (otherwise known as ‘boba’ or ‘tapioca pearls’), not many are aware of the environmental impacts brought about by bubble tea. In recent years, more attention has been drawn on the unsustainable use of single-use plastics for every purchase of bubble tea – cups, straws, plastic holder. When disposed of, these plastics could end up in the oceans or could also be broken down into microplastics and transported in the atmosphere or water, causing air and water pollution. This was one of the main motivations that have led to interesting innovations such as some of those shown in the videos below:
Other than being the effects brought about by plastic pollution, do you know that the manufacturing process of the bubble tea pearls is also contributing to air pollution in many parts of the world too?
Air Pollution
As we all know, bubble tea pearls are made from tapioca. However, do you know that tapioca is not a naturally occurring product, but it is a form of starch extracted from the storage roots of the cassava plant? The extraction process requires a lot of energy that usually comes from non-renewable sources like coal, especially when most of these processing plants were often found in developing regions of the world in parts of Asia and Africa (FAO, n.d.) – and this results in a substantial amount of carbon footprint being generated at these plants every day.
This video below shows some of the steps that tapioca extraction plants would go through:
This extraction process can cause air pollution problems as well, as some additives are commonly used to create the desired texture and consistency of tapioca pearls. Sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide are often used as a bleaching agent, to regulate microbial and enzymatic reactions, along with speeding up the process of making the flour (Colin et al., 2007). As a result, when these additives are present in excess (which is usually the case), they would be released into the atmosphere again, that could result in increased air pollution, especially by excess sulfur dioxide which could trigger the formation of acid rain.
My Thoughts
I feel that while it is good that globalisation has brought about increased connectivity, this bubble tea case study is a good example of how many of us are unaware of or could also overlook the environmental impacts for most of the things around us. While there are efforts and innovations in place to help everyone reduce the environmental impacts brought about by single-use plastics, there is still room for improvement in other essential processes like extraction of starch from cassava and the use of additives that can trigger air pollution in the manufacturing of bubble tea pearls. I believe that the environmental impact brought about by the latter problem is more significant as bubble tea pearls are almost everyone’s favourite toppings, and the demand for these products would drive further production, which could lead to more air pollution problems if unsustainable production methods are still used in the manufacturing and extraction process.
Although I am not an avid fan of bubble tea (I do consume it once in a while to reward myself), I still think that our little efforts can go a long way. While it is very common to hear reasons (or more like excuses) like “If I don’t use their cups or straws, I would be wasting my money” and “One person’s efforts won’t make a huge difference anyways”, we should learn how to care for the environment as much as we can, and others can be influenced in the same way too! For me, I would usually bring along my reusable bubble tea cup, metal straw and fabric bubble tea holder for most of my occasional bubble tea runs, and I would also choose other toppings that are less environmentally polluting as compared to tapioca pearls (oh yes, my current go-to bubble tea topping is aloe vera!). Hopefully, you can be inspired to incorporate small lifestyle changes into your daily lives too, and when more people make the same effort to do the same, our collective efforts would definitely make a difference~
Oh, and my favourite bubble tea order is jasmine green tea with aloe vera topping, 50% sugar!
Disappearing into thin air,
Yuin Chi
References:
Colin, X., Farinet, J.L., Rojas, O. and Alazard, D., 2007. Anaerobic treatment of cassava starch extraction wastewater using a horizontal flow filter with bamboo as support. Bioresource Technology, 98(8), pp.1602-1607.
FAO, n.d. ‘Impact of Cassava Processing on the Environment’. Retrieved from: http://www.fao.org/3/y2413e/y2413e0d.htm. (Last Accessed: 1 October 2020).
Air Pollution 