'Eco-friendly' paper and bamboo straws contain PFAS chemicals, study finds
Amarok@kbin.social to 
nbcnews.com
Researchers found low concentrations of so-called forever chemicals in various "eco-friendly" straws, raising doubts about whether they're an appropriate alternative.
You are viewing a single comment
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.
Everyone needs to use wheelchairs or wheelchair bound people can't benefit! What a silly argument. Costs will be higher, but the niche will be filled if it's needed.
Anyone can buy a wheelchair...
And wheelchair ramps were made legally required in many places.
Could be declared a medical product.
So US hospitals can charge $37 for a single straw?
No, no straws for anyone, and take away their special ramps too. It's all or nothing because that's the only way my argument works. Color spectrum, exceptions? All I see is black and white.
To be fair, drinks with ice in them are still miles easier to drink with a straw.
No doubt. But something with a smaller hole in it, like the newer Starbucks (I’m sorry I hate using them as an example) cold cups works fine with ice too. Hell, something shaped like the top of a soda can would do it, no more difficult to make than the straw accepting lids, and then no straws.
Those stsrbucks cups are fairly thick, like more than the amount of plastic in a straw thick. Is that really better overall?
Did you read what I said? I said I hate using Starbucks as an example. It just happened to be the first thing that came to mind, that everyone would know what I was talking about. Yes, Starbucks sucks, and so do their plastic products, BUT as I said, that STYLE is what I was talking about. In fact, I said something more like the top of a soda can would be good.
The style requires thicker plastic.
Not really. Everyone seems to forget we used to make things out of shit other than plastic for some reason.
They’re not difficult to make, but they do require more plastic. Probably about the same amount of additional plastic as a straw, really. It’s funny to me when people only consider part of the equation and not the whole thing.
As far as I’m concerned, plastic lids/cups should go away too. I’m simply pointing out that straws are useless, and if anyone cared enough, it would be pretty simple to resolve the straw issue.
Calling straws useless is a bit much. They’re usually excessive, but not useless. Ask your grandmother who can no longer drink from a glass properly. Or a quadriplegic.
There’s nuance in everything, my friend. You’d serve the world better to acknowledge it rather than speak in absolutes.
so, people who existed before the advent of the plastic straw just all died of dehydration? GTFO of here with that shit.
Yes, straws are convenient, and can be helpful to people with certain disabilities. However, that's a small subset of the population, and they can use reuasble straws, if they need them. Plastic/disposable straws are useless.
This isn’t even a fair argument. The subset of people I refer to who benefit from straws would have had a whole host of different things working against them pre-straws. Sort of a silly strawman because that’s not my point. I honestly think you just forgot to qualify a previous statement by emphasizing that you think plastic straws are useless and not all straws are useless. I was responding to your blanket statement that straws are useless.
I agree that disposable straws are useless, no disagreement there. It’s why I own metal ones. I disagree that straws themselves are useless. They are useful.
This comment thread is about disposable/plastic straws. I have been talking about getting rid of plastic/disposable straws in every comment. I never implied I was talking about reusable. I didn’t know I needed to be so pedantic.
Jesus man, ok. Let’s get pedantic about this. I’m sick, I’ve got time.
Parent comment of this thread is:
So, on the table are both forms of straws. In fact, the immediate response to the parent comment leads with
A few comments later you say
To which I call you out and point out that they do, in fact, have a use. Instead of just conceding that they do have a use for a subset of the population, and aren’t totally useless, you pivot to disposable.
In context of this conversation, you absolutely need to qualify if you are talking about all straws or just disposable straws. That’s literally the conversation being had. You just seem to not like that someone pointed out a flaw to your logic. It’s fine to have someone offer different perspectives that cause you to refine your position. Nothing wrong with that. That was my whole point about acknowledging nuance.
You just replaced a straw with a lid.
cups already had lids
Not in the restaurants where straws are used.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but they already have plastic lids on them, which are bad, but no extra with my suggestion.
If it's in a paper/plastic cup you can pop the lid off and squeeze the cup to make a pitcher-like shape at the rim. Keeps the ice in and makes for easy drinking. I don't see why we can't just make all disposable lids like coffee cups, honestly. They even make ones that close to avoid spilling
I just bought like a dozen metal straws that are in rotation. Also, coffee cup lids require slightly more plastic to mold. You’re not really saving too much with that trade-off when you think about it. Metal straws work great.
I have some metal straws I keep in my car, I was speaking more to people who don't have or use them or forgot them and don't want to use a disposable straw. I agree that metal straws are the way to go. We honestly need to normalize and allow people to bring their own bottles/cups/whathaveyou into restaurants over disposable products. They should just charge a flat rate for beverages and call it a day. The profit margins on drinks are absurd so the restaurant will still be making plenty of money even if someone brings one of those huge 64 oz bottles in. They could even rig soda fountains to dispense pre-portioned amounts so that the restaurant maintains it's margins. That tech has been around for ages, I'm sure it would be easy to retrofit fountains that dont already have it
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 🤌
Ivory for an extra dose of cruelty!
Quick edit: do not use paper straws for cocaine. Porous material will absorb your product. Also heat your surface before chopping, to make the product as fine as possible.
Stop making it complicated. Just line it up on someone's ass and get your nose down in it like god intended.
That one’s checked off my bucket list, and I cannot be more happy.
People carrying cash now are worrying.
(I'm kidding, though I don't carry much anymore. Enough for some gas or something if there's an emergency and my card doesn't work for whatever reason.)
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.
There is a lack of non-plastic materials that are suitable for every disability while also being affordable. This chart lists common problems with non-plastic straws for some people.
Complete plastic straw bans have a poor reward to risk ratio. It fixes almost nothing while putting some disabled people in danger. Just make it mandatory for restaurants and fast food to only give them out on request instead of by default and that will cut down on a huge portion of the straw waste while keeping them available for those who need them.
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.
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
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?
That’s an incredibly stupid suggestion.
Enjoy the deluge of balls.
Metal straws have gotten very popular in Taiwan, the home of bubble tea. It's not that inconvenient to take a metal straw or other reusable straw with you.
I'm not going to keep a metal straw on me for the odd time I want bubble tea.
Totally ignored his last point.
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