Do You Use Straws To Drink?

[Rudynate]

I don’t use straws and fully support a ban on straws. People who need them for disabilities and such will find a very suitable alternative. When I Argentina everyone is drinking their Yerba Mattes with reusable metal/ aluminum straws.

 

 

Years ago, hospitals used reusable glass straws.

[RM]

I never use straws in cold drinks. I like the drinks to be COLD. Drinking from a straw gets the drink near the bottom of the glass. Without the straw, you get the drink at the top of the glass, where the ice is.

[Bearofdistinction]

Three Observations:

 

1)Straw Control gets national attention and action because one Sea Turtle gets a straw stuck in his nose and it is taped -- 100s killed in mass shootings from schools to malls and movies and nothing happens.

 

2) In the 80's straws were a lot shorter

 

3) Maybe the straw in the turtles nose was left from his Studio 54 days?

Edited July 27, 2018 by Bearofdistinction

[+ Avalon]

Three Observations:

1)Straw Control gets national attention and action because one Sea Turtle gets a straw stuck in his nose and it is taped -- 100s killed in mass shootings from schools to malls and movies and nothing happens.

 

2) In the 80's straws were a lot shorter

 

3) Maybe the straw in the turtles nose was left from his Studio 54 day?

 

I had no idea the origin of ban the straw campaign. Thanks!

 

http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/pft/2015/10/27/the-turtle-that-became-the-anti-plastic-straw-poster-child

[Nvr2Thick]

Cracked isn't the best source, but they do link to a lot of better sources in this article.

 

http://www.cracked.com/article_25755_bad-news-plastic-drinking-straw-ban-bs.html

 

"The reality of the situation is that straws just aren't the biggest problem we have. Even if the worst estimate of the environmental damage done by straws is true -- that our coastlines are covered in 8.3 billion of the tiny bastards -- that

only accounts

for 0.03 percent of the more than eight million tons of plastic garbage that enters the oceans every year."

 

If sources are to be believed, the drinking straw ban is a feel-good initiative, and not even a "good start" toward reducing plastic waste.

 

https://theoutline.com/post/5416/the-only-stat-about-our-plastic-straw-problem-comes-from-a-nine-year-old-boy

 

Commercial fishing nets, plastic bags, plastic bottles, and balloons are reported to be the most significant offenders, by far.

[MikeBiDude]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

[rvwnsd]

Only when drinking pickle juice.

[mike carey]

Yes, straws are only a small part of the problem, but they are an easy one. There are people for whom a durable aid to drinking is necessary, but as noted there are steel and glass alternatives. Of which more in a moment. And there is the paper version (less robust, of course) that we used to use.

 

All sorts of marine plastics are a threat to sea turtles, and all sorts end up in the gyres. Straws are a particularly visible one that wildlife rescue services see. Plastic bags that look like jellyfish are a more insidious threat. This week the second season of 'War on Waste' started on ABC television here and a sea turtle made from straws is one of the props they are using, taking it into McDonalds and pubs to argue the case. (They had a number of pubs agree to join an anti-straw campaign not by banning them but by taking them off the counter and only supplying them when they were asked for, with a sign on the bar explaining what they were doing. As they used tens of thousands a year, they had an economic incentive to join in.) Reducing unnecessary plastic is a long game, scale of impact and ease of taking each step are separate parts of it, both need to be done and every bit counts.

 

Last year's War on Waste had disposable coffee cups as a focus issue, they are made of paper layered with plastic and cannot be recycled. We use over a billion a year. The program caused a spike of shops selling reusable cups, and customers being prepared to carry a cup with them. There has also been a controversy here as supermarkets phased out single use plastic carry-bags in the states where they had not already been banned and instead sold reusable bags of various types. (War on Waste had also rolled a 3m-diameter ball of plastic bags around to press for their withdrawal from use, embarrassing politicians out for a run or at an event.) From the protests you'd think the world had come to an end. Those of us in states where they were already banned rolled our eyes, and said 'Get over it, taking your own bags isn't hard'. Councils are being pressured (successfully) to ban plastic cutlery at outdoor events and mandate compostable ones. I had previously seen people advocate carrying cutlery with you rather than take disposable ones when you buy take-away food.

 

If there is a common theme, it is that you can take your own reusable item rather than take a single use plastic version when you buy something. Whether you are forced to by a ban or decide to for your own reasons it's not difficult once you get into the habit. (You don't forget your wallet, or not often.) People could carry a straw with them if they like using one, and they could live without disposable ones. Here, we've managed it with shopping bags, people are doing it with coffee cups. Replacing plastic straws is a small action with a small effect, but remember that straw that broke the camel's back.

[Whitman]

My family eliminated straws a couple years ago when my daughter came home and demanded we stop using single-use plastic because it's destroying the world!

I don’t use straws and fully support a ban on straws...

[LivingnLA]

 

Cute, but a misinterpretation of my post. We didn't just remove straws from our lives, we do our best to eliminate all single-use plastics. We know it's a proverbial drop-in-the-bucket, but if everyone started demanding the elimination of single-use plastic, things might start to change in our economy.

[Whitman]

Cute, but a misinterpretation of my post. We didn't just remove straws from our lives, we do our best to eliminate all single-use plastics. We know it's a proverbial drop-in-the-bucket, but if everyone started demanding the elimination of single-use plastic, things might start to change in our economy.

Sounds like Forrest Gump and I offended you. It wasn't our intent. I'm in full support of eliminating single-use plastics … and enjoy an occasional chuckle.

[LivingnLA]

Sounds like Forrest Gump and I offended you. It wasn't our intent. I'm in full support of eliminating single-use plastics … and enjoy an occasional chuckle.

 

Nah. No offense taken. I thought it was cute, but just a misrepresentation of our position.

 

One of the funniest experiences earlier this Summer was when we were ordering breakfast one morning on a trip and when we told the waitress, "no straws" as we were ordering drinks, she smiled and asked, "where in California are you from?" We all had a good laugh.

[+ Hoover42]

Just noticed this morning that my local Starbucks sells crème brûlée flavored paper straws. Great with iced lattes!

 

Instead of using free plastic straws wrapped in paper. you can buy flavored paper straws wrapped in plastic.

[LivingnLA]

Just noticed this morning that my local Starbucks sells crème brûlée flavored paper straws. Great with iced lattes!

 

Instead of using free plastic straws wrapped in paper. you can buy flavored paper straws wrapped in plastic.

 

 

Sounds like a typical corporate "solution" to a problem, creating whole new problems and more profit.

[bnm73]

Just noticed this morning that my local Starbucks sells crème brûlée flavored paper straws. Great with iced lattes!

 

Instead of using free plastic straws wrapped in paper. you can buy flavored paper straws wrapped in plastic.

 

I was in St. Croix, USVI, recently on a vacation. They had banned plastic straws a while ago, and it was just finishing being phased in. Snorkeling/scuba tourism is a big chunk of the economy of the island, and the plastic straws were having a significant negative effect on the reefs.

 

In one place on the boardwalk in Christiansted, there were guys talking about it whom I overheard. One said he was trying to find a supplier to sell stainless-steel metal straws. Something that can be engraved, sold as a tourist keepsake, etc. I rather liked the idea, and I hope he makes a go of it.

[MikeBiDude]

I was in St. Croix, USVI, recently on a vacation. They had banned plastic straws a while ago, and it was just finishing being phased in. Snorkeling/scuba tourism is a big chunk of the economy of the island, and the plastic straws were having a significant negative effect on the reefs.

 

In one place on the boardwalk in Christiansted, there were guys talking about it whom I overheard. One said he was trying to find a supplier to sell stainless-steel metal straws. Something that can be engraved, sold as a tourist keepsake, etc. I rather liked the idea, and I hope he makes a go of it.

Yerba Mate straws! South American traditional, they’re on Amazon

[Nvr2Thick]

I use straws to keep from staining my teeth(I drink too much soda).

 

Well they have whitening fluoride rinses now that are pretty effective, you could probably give them a try.

 

Fluoride needs to become a Starbucks coffee flavoring ("I'd like a grande fluoride latte with soy milk, please"), and an option for colas (Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, Fluoride Coke). Treat the problem at its source.