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An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

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Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#61

Post by roughly »

legitster wrote: post #34

Plastic gets a bad wrap. But it's a pretty dang efficient material. It takes so little energy and material to make something very functional and resilient. I know that CO2 analyses of the replacements to plastic bags and straws has not been very kind to them. I find it commendable to encourage people to consumer less stuff, but the war on plastic straws has been a huge step back - it's done relatively little to actua…

I think the core problem is that there's a whole raft of things that get bucketed under "environmentally friendly" - for example:

- CO2 - Lifespan of materials - Ecological impact of material extraction/creation - Ecological impact of the materials themselves - Energy cost of transport/etc.

In this case, plastic is concerning because of the lifespan of the materials and the ecological impact of the materials - it may be energetically cheaper to produce & transport a plastic bag as opposed to a paper bag, but presumably the paper bag degrades faster and with fewer side effects.

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#62

Post by function_seven »

jccooper wrote: post #60
mike_d wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> your plastic straw has a big chance of finding its way to the sea IF you put it in a recycling bin. Here is a quick breakdown: - Black bin (trash): Goes to a landfill where it is regulated by the EPA and stored in containment and the off-gas is harvested for energy - Blue bin (recycling): Gets shipped by boat across an ocean to a third world country where it is dumped because that is the most profitable thing to do…

A lot of "recycling" gets diverted to landfill domestically, too. How much depends, but lots of stuff is sorted out as unrecyclable, unidentifiable, or just plain unprofitable. Probably including most straws and other small items placed in recycling.

While true, I'd rather play it safe and put my plastic in the trash bin. Helpful mnemonic: The blue bin is blue like the ocean that plastic will end up in.

:(

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#63

Post by frankfrankfrank »

legitster wrote: post #34

Plastic gets a bad wrap. But it's a pretty dang efficient material. It takes so little energy and material to make something very functional and resilient. I know that CO2 analyses of the replacements to plastic bags and straws has not been very kind to them. I find it commendable to encourage people to consumer less stuff, but the war on plastic straws has been a huge step back - it's done relatively little to actua…

The straw event was not organic.

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#65

Post by hammock »

haunter wrote: post #25

Went to McDonald's today to get a milkshake, they only have paper straws here since 2019 iirc. Anyways the milkshake itself doesn't but I assume our saliva "softens" the paper straw so much that after a couple of minutes I had to turn the straw around to use the other end otherwise I just can't get the milkshake through lol if that make sense. I'm thinking about getting 2 straws next time.

PFAS “forever chemicals” were found in 36 out of 38 brands of plant-based (like paper) straws tested: https://cen.acs.org/environment/persistent-pollutants/Biodeg...

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#66

Post by ZeroGravitas »

tptacek wrote: post #48
ZeroGravitas wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plastics are cool materials but at the moment they're mostly made from fossil fuels so you're funding some really bad people by using them. They'll only use that money to convince gullible people that climate change isn't happening, that every government regulation will magically have exactly the opposite impact, that solar and wind power are scams, that recycling is bad for the planet and that science and democracy…

It is probably not reasonable to select materials with worse ecological footprints than plastic purely out of concern for what people in the plastics supply chain are going to say about climate change.

The whole point is that you don't know if its a worse ecological footprint unless you count all the impacts.

If that impact includes support for some of the worst regimes on earth starting wars and undermining democracy then I think you'll find there's been a recent shift in public attitudes on this issue.

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#67

Post by troyvit »

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.

Man I remember being a kid and drinking a McDonald's shake through a straw. It was so frustrating. My cheeks would be sucked in like a 60 year old actress with really bad plastic surgery and even then I'd just get a little bit.

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#68

Post by alfor »

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…

I think we are not in a position to judge what is reasonable to do over hundred or thousand of years with our current technological progression.

Plastics where not really a thing 100 years ago. At our current progression I think we should avoid the big catastrophes (Nuclear war), push for developpement of poor places(get more genius) and advance technology as fast as we can.

At this speed of advancement in less than 100 years I am sure we will have figure out something for the plastic we have generated meanwhile.

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#69

Post by marcosdumay »

aeternum wrote: post #4

A a glance, it seems to make sense that burying straws/garbage in a landfill is better than throwing it in the ocean but chemically, plastic decomposes significantly faster when exposed to UV/sunlight. It also seems as though ocean organisms are more able to consume plastic & oil. It sounds crazy, but could it be that trash in the ocean is actually a better option?

There is basically no UV on most of the oceans volume.

I don't know where we stand better chance of getting a plastic consuming bacteria. (Do we even want that?) But the rate of natural decomposition of plastic on the ocean or underground is probably similar.

Re: An illustrated guide to plastic straws (2021)

#70

Post by barbazoo »

> If you don't know the exact location where your plastic is recycled, throw it in the regular garbage instead.

Very interesting points they are raising. I reached out to https://recyclebc.ca to find out more about my local recycling org but from what I can find on their website almost all of the end product ends up in BC, Canada or at least North America. Same for the processing which seems to be local. I'll update with what I can find out and correct me if I'm wrong but those people saying everything gets shipped to Asia and dumped into the ocean aren't right, at least not universally. Here in BC at least that doesn't seem to be the case at all. If that's the case I'd really like to know why other places in first world countries aren't doing the same and I'd definitely consider the US a first world country.

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