Researchers found low concentrations of so-called forever chemicals in various “eco-friendly” straws, raising doubts about whether they’re an appropriate alternative.
Disposable products are gonna have problems to keep them cheap. The solution to straws is non-dispossble straws, always was.
Also this is still a silly topic, straws won’t save the planet.
Or stop using straws all together. Cups/lids can be made differently, so they are more like a sippy cup. You don’t NEED straws. Humans are totally capable of drinking directly from a cup, even without a special lid.
Single use bendy straws were literally invented to help keep bedbound and other disabled people alive.
Which is the only legitimate use case, but I bet >99% of straws produced aren’t used for that.
And you can buy bent straws in multiple materials, which are not intended to be disposable.
But no one is going to make straws to serve only 1% of the population. Accessibility features need to become mainstream (or forced into effect by the government) for it to actually benefit people with disabilities.
Could be declared a medical product.
So US hospitals can charge $37 for a single straw?
Woah woah woah, will someone please think of the cocaine users?
People have been using money forever, they’ll be fine.
That’s gross. Paper straws are the way 🤌
deleted by creator
My mother is up there in age, every time she drinks from a cup she ends up spilling it on herself. Im not saying she NEEDS straws, but it sure makes it easier on her.
I wouldn’t say that nobody ever should use straws, but there are definitely a lot of people who use straws even when it’s not necessary, like when they’re just sitting in a restaurant eating.
I can agree that having a straw is easier for takeaway eaten on the go or in the car too, for example.
Costco food court lids come to mind. They have a hole near the side where you can either use a straw or drink directly.
I’ve never seen those in person, but after an image search, yeah, exactly. I only used starbucks as an example because they are everywhere, and most people have seen them before.
How are you going to drink bubble tea without a straw?
I started making my own boba and I got a set of big glass boba straws.
Same way I already do, tear the plastic “lid” off and dump it down my throat.
I too enjoy gargling little black balls
Enjoy the deluge of balls.
How do you get pearls that are at the bottom of the cup? You drink the tea first and then use a spoon for pearls? Bubble tea requires a straw to properly enjoy. Otherwise you can’t get a mixture of both tea and pearls.
Swirl the cup? You can get them evenly dispersed evenly pretty easily.
Have you ever had bubble tea?
Yes, I have, have you ever used your brain?
Straws are an accessibility need for some humans, not everyone is actually physically capable of drinking directly from a cup.
That’s fine, they can have their own non disposables for their own needs. We do NOT need to keep polluting the planet (yeah I know there are plenty of other ways we do it) with EVERYTHING being disposable.
Single use bendy straws were literally invented to help keep bedbound and other disabled people alive. There are also many reasons people can’t use different alternatives.
You personally not using something, doesn’t mean others don’t, and to deny access to a literal lifeline for the sake of 0.003% of the plastics in the ocean (literally a drop in an ocean) because it makes you feel better and requires zero effort or sacrifice (from you), instead of actually acting to resolve the problem (like being anti-capitalist rather than just trying to apply band aids to its symptoms) is not only gross and ableist, but also a colossal counterproductive waste of time.
I’m not in disagreement regarding moving away from disposable goods, especially plastic based ones. Just trying to point out the problem isn’t as cut and dry as you suggested. Straws are popular partly because they are more accessible so any solution that involves getting rid of them should take that need into account.
No, straw are popular because that’s what we have always been given, and people want convenience. Yeah, a small subset of people may need that assistance, but let’s not pretend that most people are being altruistic.
Removed by mod
So, your suggestion is to continue to kill the planet, because we might inconvenience a small subset of the population? I get it, I really do, it’s not fair for them, but those people can carry reusables if they need a straw.
So your suggestion is to let disabled people die because you can’t be bothered to fight the actual problem and just want a feel-good campaign to take part in and to feel superior to others with?
At least be honest…No, as I have said in MULTIPLE other comments. Straws exist in other flavors than plastic or disposable. Non disposables also come in a variety of shapes. People can use those. Where did I say they shouldn’t have something they need.
Like I also said in another comment, people who “need” straws now all just died of dehydration before plastic/disposable straws existed?
Removed by mod
Slurpie with icecream would like a word
As I said, I hate using Starbucks as an example, but they have drinks that are roughly the same consistency, and they are fine to drink out of their newer lids sans straws.
No
deleted by creator
No but the plastic ones actually did harm the plant.
Yes, but some people actually depend on them to live, and considering jut how little of the plastics they made up, the crusade to get rid of them is nothing but a superficial feel good endeavour that has absolutely zero impact on the crisis we face, and just leaves disabled people lacking access to a literal life line.
It can’t have zero impact if you replace 50-300 million straws per day in de US alone. Could we do more? Of course we could but a start is a start and this is better than nothing.
Besides that I don’t get how and why someone’s life might depends on plastic straws but I’m sure we could find an alternative for that poor person.
We really need to change the way that consumers consume things. People need to stop acting entitled to everything they want immediately and with every convenience available.
Maybe people should start travelling around with their own straws. Have a craving for an iced coffee?? Well either bring your own metal/silicone reusable straw or deal with drinking straight from the cup. Be responsible and stop expecting corporations and government to solve every issue and maintain the lifestyle we have had the past few decades.
Things need to change in order for the world to get better, and maintaining the same level of convenience and consumption is unfortunately not something that we can afford.
Single use bendy straws were literally invented to help keep bedbound and other disabled people alive. There are also many reasons people can’t use different alternatives.
You personally not using something, doesn’t mean others don’t, and to deny access to a literal lifeline for the sake of 0.003% of the plastics in the ocean (literally a drop in an ocean) because it makes you feel better and requires zero effort or sacrifice (from you), instead of actually acting to resolve the problem (like being anti-capitalist rather than just trying to apply band aids to its symptoms) is not only gross and ableist, but also a colossal counterproductive waste of time.
No comment on the level of PFAS aside from
though the levels were low
This is just feeding the outrage machine to get clicks. If it was a story they’d be citing concentration guidelines and telling you what concentrations were found in the products. It’s not a story, it’s rage bait.
I agree 99%. The 1% left is that, honestly, it is shitty that they contain any kind of PFAS to begin with. If PFAS in any kind of concentration are part of the production process, then it just isn’t sustainable in the long run.
But the question is why do we need straws at all. I doubt that back in 1970 anyone would drink a latte macchiato with a straw. I found it strange just 15 years ago. If you fancy straws, you can get one high quality reusable one (steel, bamboo whatever) and carry it with you - I find this proposition much less offensive then expecting me to always carry a huge reusable cup with me. And for the most part you can consume drinks without a straw.
Now, there is people who have disabilities that require them to use a straw. For them, have some in store as a vendor, and hand them out if requested.
Agreed. If it was “intentionally added” PFAS, it would say that, and that might be a big deal. I read through the article and didn’t see that. Just speculation that it might be. PFAS is everywhere.
Once in a restaurant I got some longe macaroni pasta as a straw and I still think this was genius.
Unless you have a gluten allergy, or need to drink something hot.
skill issue
Gluten free pasta exists.
Also love the idea of having to quickly drink your hot drink before your straw becomes a limp noodle (literally) 😂
If I’m not mistaken, manufacturing facilities spray PFAS agents on various conveyor parts to prevent pulp from sticking to them and therefore require stoppage and cleaning. In other words, PFAS reduce the time and money spent on cleaning manufacturing equipment. Congratulations shareholders!
I’m glad someone is thinking of the shareholders. It’s about time we focus on them and not such pesky abstractions like “the environment” or “the future”
/s
We have a couple metal straws and washable plastic ones. The metal ones probably have lead and the plastic ones are made of baby kittens.
But man, you can really taste the kitten
deleted by creator
Yeah, it sucks that straws somehow became the poster child for saving the world. It’s nowhere near our main problem, even with sea plastic (that would be discarded fishing nets) but if we can masochistically try to suck a milkshake through a collapsing, leaking, sticking to my lips, paper straw then I must be doing something good, right…?
This and plastic shopping bags are the perfect poster children - they inconvenience consumers and not shareholders. Look at your average shopping cart and tell me how much plastic is in it. Did we ever address that, or was it totally ignored for the tiny fraction of that plastic that constitutes disposable bags? Disposble bags that have now been replaced by other bags that are dubiously better that we have to buy, and whose normal reuse-case is now other thin plastic bags that we have to also buy.
Meanwhile the enormous amount of packing plastic that is already in the shopping cart before you bag anything is left alone, because presumably doing anything about that would change supply lines, and that would cost money for shareholders. Can’t have that.
Also if you’ve got a straw you almost certainly have a plastic lid that has more plastic in it than the straw did but there isn’t an easy way to fix that. It’s an incredibly thin and meaningless cover for the real problems.
I don’t fuck with ANY straw that ain’t metal
I’d suggest not fucking with anything that lacks a flared base.
Okay, but what kind of straws do you drink with?
deleted by creator
Read the entire thing:
Of the straws tested in the study, those made of paper were the most likely to contain PFAS: The chemicals were detected in 18 out of 20 brands. Four out of five bamboo straws sampled contained PFAS, compared to three out of four plastic straws and two out of five glass straws. All five stainless steel straws analyzed were PFAS-free.
deleted by creator
“All the straw manufacturers should take warning and say, ‘Hey, do we use this stuff?’ Because at the moment, they’re not even asking that question,”
That is kind of concerning!Aww what a surprise… not
When the craze first started I remember seeing paper straws in plastic. Someone was close but didnt quite get it.
God i love my glass straws
I knew I should have avoided the comments… The fact that defence of this bullshit ban still endures (and in the literal face of its failures) frustrates me beyond words.
The plastic straws also contain PFAS anyway so paper still may be marginally better, but it’s definitely money and time that could have been better spent on a different environmental initiative. I’m happy to see plastic bags go, though. Can’t win em all
Haha fucking idiot whoever came up whit this bullshit.
