Roughly 8.5 billion plastic straws are used in the U.K.each year,but as a new ban takes effect next April,that number will shrink to zero.One startup is hoping to corner the market for alternative straws using an unlikely material:pasta.“It ticks all the boxes in terms of functionality as a plastic straw that everyone's been used to growing up,”says Maxim Gelmann,founder of Stroodles,the startup.