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An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

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Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#141

Post by the_lonely_road »

munk-a wrote: post #135
anamax wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People adjust - paper straws are servicable for most purposes What purposes are "most purposes"? They don't work for shakes, they don't work for anything that takes more than a minute, etc. Given a choice, people pick plastic straws. Who are you to say that plastic straws aren't better?

As I mentioned in a sibling comment (specifically talking about bubble tea) metal straws are an excellent and, generally, superior alternative. People don't pick plastic straws - companies pick plastic straws and they stir up anti-environmental outrage to reinforce their fiscally based decision.

Obligatory reminder of the lady who tripped and died by impaling her eyeball on her metal straw.

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#142

Post by rootusrootus »

Uehreka wrote: post #91
munk-a wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a lot of transactions straws are handed out regardless of the customer's desire - ditto for plastic cutlery with takeout/delivery. For individual businesses the math is against conservatism. Failing to deliver cutlery and getting massive complaints (especially if they lead to politically charged boycotts) is the second most expensive option - the most expensive option is forcing customers to state their preference…

>handed out regardless of the customer’s desire This, but for paper receipts! It blows my mind that the default everywhere I go is to print a receipt, then ask me if I want it. I never do. I am not expensing these two slices of pizza. I will not need to deduct this bottle of shampoo when I file my taxes. And then the merchant prints a receipt for themself! As if the computer that printed the receipt couldn’t just sav…

That's becoming pretty normal in my experience. A lot of places ask first if I want a receipt. And they're not just printing them anyway and keeping them or throwing them away, they just tell the POS system not to print it at all.

IMO the best reason to avoid receipts when you don't need them is because thermal paper is really nasty stuff.

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#143

Post by Melatonic »

telotortium wrote: post #120
Melatonic wrote: post #102

I do not understand why more restaurants do not have metal straws They already have silverware and a whole process for cleaning it and whatnot. Why not just also invest in metal straws and re-use ? It seems like it would be cheaper than even plastic straws long term. And of course less waste.

Many commercial dishwashers might be specialized for certain dishes, so adding a straw washing machine would be a significant expense. In addition, I've heard that many commercial dishwashers require the dishes to be scrubbed beforehand (see https://www.webstaurantstore.com/guide/620/types-of-commerci... ), and straws are quite difficult to scrub. Given that most restaurants that go through a lot of straws want to pr…

Don't a lot of restaurants just employ dish washers and not use commercial dishwashers? They are super fast and easy to clean with a brush designed for them

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#144

Post by munk-a »

the_lonely_road wrote: post #141
munk-a wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I mentioned in a sibling comment (specifically talking about bubble tea) metal straws are an excellent and, generally, superior alternative. People don't pick plastic straws - companies pick plastic straws and they stir up anti-environmental outrage to reinforce their fiscally based decision.

Obligatory reminder of the lady who tripped and died by impaling her eyeball on her metal straw.

Obligatory reminder of the persons and homes hit by blobs of frozen detritus ejected from airplane toilets mid-flight.

I think one-off examples of accidents are pretty unhelpful for discussions. Bamboo straws are also available alternatives and both those and disposable plastic straws can also cause fatal accidents - bubble tea straws in particular can easily break skin. There are also silicon straws available which might be the best option safety wise - even superior to plastic.

Metal straws don't noticeably increase the danger of drinking - but drinking while running or moving quickly is an action that can always increase the risk of accident - fatal or not.

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#145

Post by thebean11 »

munk-a wrote: post #137
thebean11 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you always have your messenger bag on you? Or you always know ahead of time that you're going to bubble tea and bring your messenger bag? What do you do after you use it? Do you wash it after use or put it in your bag dirty to wash later? Not trying to argue but surprised people actually go through the trouble. > A fair number of people carry around reusable coffee travel mugs Yeah but that's usually in order to c…

I indeed always have my messenger bag[1] on me - after using it, assuming I'm not carrying the drink container home with me (or to someplace I can easily rinse it) I'll usually wrap it in a paper napkin - that's pretty rare though, usually by the time I can dispose of the drinking vessel I'm able to wash the straw out. Reusable bubble tea straws are also small enough that they'll easily fit in most purses - the lengt…

Yeah, I guess as someone who wouldn't always have a bag or purse on me the calculus is different (and for that matter, someone who would forget to wash the straw).

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#146

Post by qiskit »

LeanderK wrote: post #75

> And banning straws is just plain stupid. Why? We don't have them anymore in germany. People move on and new solutions get invented. Seeing a plastic straw is weird to me.

> Why? We don't have them anymore in germany.

Even more reason to use plastic straws. If there is one country I don't want the US to follow, that's germany.

> People move on and new solutions get invented.

Like toxic paper straws?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31241276

> Seeing a plastic straw is weird to me.

What's weird about them?

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#147

Post by robonerd »

anamax wrote: post #132
munk-a wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ivory combs are pretty sweet apparently, they're a lot nicer to use than wooden or plastic combs... I'm not seeing much outrage over the fact that we're being forced not to use them in the modern world. People adjust - paper straws are servicable for most purposes, for things like bubble tea reusable straws are a reasonable investment (if you're having it often).

> People adjust - paper straws are servicable for most purposes What purposes are "most purposes"? They don't work for shakes, they don't work for anything that takes more than a minute, etc. Given a choice, people pick plastic straws. Who are you to say that plastic straws aren't better?

Cardboard straws definitely work for shakes. I've been to a few retro-style icecream shops that use cardboard straws for shakes.

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#148

Post by photochemsyn »

Syonyk wrote: post #103
jnmandal wrote: post #56

Yes, the US is a country that cannot process its own waste so it ships it overseas just to be rid of it. The solution is not to raise money and send it to the Philippines to build landfills. The solution is to actually recycle plastic, build circular supply chains, and use biodegradable materials as much as possible. If humans are to stay on this planet, in the long term we cannot just keep piling up garbage in landf…

> The solution is to actually recycle plastic, build circular supply chains, and use biodegradable materials as much as possible. This assumes that: (1) Plastic can actually be recycled. Unlike a lot of other materials, it degrades rather substantially every time you try, and plastic quality coming out of recycling isn't generally uniform enough to make anything more than the big, chunky "recycled plastic toys and be…

Probably the only realistic way to 'recycle' plastic is to follow something like the fungal approach to 'recycling' durable woody materials, i.e. cellolose and lignin - the slowly break them down all the way to CO2, extracting whatever energy is available along the way. This is why we get a late-season pulse of CO2 in the fall, as fungi do their work, in the northern hemisphere. Under normal steady state conditions, growing plants then uptake that released CO2 in the spring, accounting for the sawtooth pattern in the northern hemisphere Keeling Curve.

On the other hand, making plastics from biomass carbon sources or from direct air capture and burying the material in landfills permanently is actually a form of permanent carbon storage.

It's probably just best to reduce plastic use as much as possible.

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#149

Post by dr_dshiv »

jnmandal wrote: post #56

Yes, the US is a country that cannot process its own waste so it ships it overseas just to be rid of it. The solution is not to raise money and send it to the Philippines to build landfills. The solution is to actually recycle plastic, build circular supply chains, and use biodegradable materials as much as possible. If humans are to stay on this planet, in the long term we cannot just keep piling up garbage in landf…

Let’s think positively here, people. Clearly we just need to invent a straw that you can eat afterwards. Maybe it turns into chewing gum?

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#150

Post by xoxxala »

MerelyMortal wrote: post #41
McNutty wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I just drink from the cup. I never use a straw when drinking at home, I don't magically require one when not at home.

Personally, part of the enjoyable expereince of drinking a milkshake is drinking it through a straw. Drinking a milkshake like a regular drink gives me no pleasure. I suppose if they ever went to paper straws where I live, i would just have to order a personal metal reusable straw.

I like my milkshakes thick enough that they need a spoon.

I prefer liquid drinks without a straw, but I find that most of my friends and family prefer straws. And not paper straws. Don't know a single person who likes paper straws.

My wife works for Starbucks and when they were pushing the sippy lids, many customers would ask for straws to go with the sippy cup lid.

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