Most single-use plastic products, including straws, have been banned in Slovenia for almost three years. A family farm in the northeast of the country has come up with an alternative, if obvious, solution - straws made from real straw.

The straws maker Alenka Leber Vračko from the Leber Vračko farm in Zgornja Kungota, a village near the Austrian border, says she got the idea from a similar product in Germany.

There they used rye stalks to make straws, but she uses triticale, a hybrid between wheat and rye. It grows on their farm and the whole all-natural straw making process takes place there as well, Leber Vračko has told the Slovenian Press Agency.

"Production depends on the weather from sowing onwards. Last year we had a bit of bad luck due to hail and lots of rain, but we were also lucky to have produced a lot of good quality straw the year before, which we were able to use to meet last year's orders," she said.

The straws are made completely by hand in a zero-waste process. The ears are used as fodder and the stalks are left to ripen. They cut them by hand in late July or early August using sickles and put them in wooden crates. They cut the stalks in two sizes, 15 and 23 centimetres long.

Any remaining parts of the straw are used as mulch to protect garden vegetables.

Being made from natural and sustainable materials, without artificial additives, the straws are environment-friendly and suitable for patients.

Last year, they also came up with naturally produced packaging.

The straws are impermeable and will not degrade or be destroyed in liquids. If they are dried well, they can be reused, or else they can be disposed of at organic waste bins or on the compost heap.

Written records kept by the Leber Vračko family show farming in this area has been done continuously since 1795. Ever since then the farm has been passed down from generation to generation.

About six years ago the farm was split into two protected farms as one of Alenka Leber Vračko's daughters took over the wine making business and the other cattle breeding. Both have law degrees.

It was then that Alenka Leber Vračko got the idea for a new business of making natural straws, she told POP TV in November.

Her project has also won co-funding from the European Regional Development Fund.

The product carries the Our Best certificate, awarded by the Maribor Tourist Board to quality handicraft and food products, produce and experiences by providers in the broader Maribor area, including the Drava Valley, Pohorje and Kozjak.