171–180 of 197 posts
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They just need more wax then. Cups made from paper work perfectly well; so should straws.
The cups are typically coated in plastic, last time I checked. (This is not obvious from looking at them though).
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I tried paper straws a couple of times at A&W and it wasn't that bad. Granted, it was a cold drink, which could perhaps be problematic with hot drinks, but beside a texture difference, I found the paper straw to be an acceptable replacement.
They were probably coated with wax, which make them... non-recyclable.
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The cups are typically coated in plastic, last time I checked. (This is not obvious from looking at them though).
I can't say I'm a cup expert, but I'm quite sure that paper cups (or straws) can be made waterproof if impregnated with wax.
My kids are done in max 10mins and they look mostly untouched.
I left it for one hour in a hot cocoa though, and it was not intact anymore but still usable to a degree.
Weren't plastic bags created because they have a significantly smaller environmental impact than paper? You need to re-use a paper bag at least 3 times before it's better than using a plastic bag[1]. And let's face it, no one re-uses those flimsy paper bags from grocery stores, but they're becoming the standard wherever plastic is banned. Those "environmentally friendly" re-usable grocery bags aren't much better eith…
I think regulators are overreacting - its a feel good PR move. I require straws and paper straws are total garbage. It's an insult. And no, I am not going to carry a straw in my pocket.
I didn't know the honourable member of the HN community was so sensitive. That they was in any sense a delicate flower. That they was capable of being a quickly and severely injured soul. If that's indeed the case then I am sorry.
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I can't say I'm a cup expert, but I'm quite sure that paper cups (or straws) can be made waterproof if impregnated with wax.
You don't need to make them waterproof. How long do you plan to drink a soda or whatever else? My kids are done in max 10mins and they look mostly untouched. I left it for one hour in a hot cocoa though, and it was not intact anymore but still usable to a degree.
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Save the rainforest is still my main environmental mantra, thanks 5th grade. And I still think the pursuit of biodiversity is the best goal. Way more compelling to the average person than co2. And it it turns out that co2 reduction is necessary to save those lemurs, so be it. But do it for the biodiversity -- to save the rainforest. Not nearly as compelling to save the rainforest in order to reduce co2, or whatever.
I'm curious how CO2 reduction is less compelling? Not to be blunt, but as an average American I'll likely never see the rainforest in person. I find it quite a bit more compelling to mitigate global warming, as that will drastically impact where I currently live. Sure, you can't use cute animals as mascots, but surely the people who live near coastlines should find the possibility of their homes being literally under…
The people living on coast lines are generally rich, which gives them the expectation that they will be ok.
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It's not quite that simple to absolve Canada (and Europe and the US) from their responsibility for this problem. Quite a bit of the plastic that ends up in those rivers far away was exported "for recycling" to the countries where it gets miss-handled and ends up in the landscape.
People keep saying this, but is there any evidence for it? I'm curious where this comes from. At first estimate we could just Google images of polluted rivers in Asia and Africa and look at the logos on the garbage. From my priors, I'd estimate that the plastics would almost all be from locally-consumed products, simply thrown into the river as is common and accepted in such places. My sense is that a lot of educated…
If Mad Men[0] is to be believed, there was plenty of littering in the US in the 1960s.[1] It took many public awareness campaigns by government and private industry, in a country far richer with nearly universal literacy, over multiple decades to make littering socially unacceptable. And I still see plenty of litter in the US today. Change takes time.
0. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roREnVhd_og
1. https://www.reddit.com/r/madmen/comments/4oie71/how_accurate...
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I tried paper straws a couple of times at A&W and it wasn't that bad. Granted, it was a cold drink, which could perhaps be problematic with hot drinks, but beside a texture difference, I found the paper straw to be an acceptable replacement.
They were probably coated with wax, which make them... non-recyclable.
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China tightened up regulations on importing recycling waste last year and Western recycling was hit extremely hard: https://www.wired.com/story/the-worlds-recycling-is-in-chaos... > It has been a year since China jammed the works of recycling programs around the world by essentially shutting down what had been the industry’s biggest market. China’s National Sword policy, enacted in January 2018, banned the import of…
I wonder what makes glass more suitable
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It's the same inane naysaying that pops up on anything about environmental concerns. "Look those other people are bad too, therefore we don't have to improve". That logic is bullshit and lazy, and we should call people out when we see it.
Western countries already do so much to protect the environment from plastic that there's not much room to improve. It almost all gets buried in landfills or burnt, not spilt into the ocean. Since we've pretty much solved the problem already, why not invest that money into something we're not doing well, like CO2 emissions? Even if we were to reduce plastic waste in the ocean, perhaps there are less costly ways, like…