Board 8 > Why are there so many paper straws?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Just noticing that a lot of different restaurants Ive gone to recently have been using paper straws instead of the usual plastic ones.

BTW Im Torontonian
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Better for the environment.
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using no straw is better than using a paper straw
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Some of the upper tier fast food restaurants around here have ditched straws entirely in favor of quasi coffee lids you can sip from. But yeah, it's an environmental thing and it's gaining quite a bit of traction.
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Xiahou Shake posted...

Some of the upper tier fast food restaurants around here have ditched straws entirely in favor of quasi coffee lids you can sip from. But yeah, it's an environmental thing and it's gaining quite a bit of traction.

aren't plastic lids just as bad as plastic straws
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Xiahou Shake posted...

Some of the upper tier fast food restaurants around here have ditched straws entirely in favor of quasi coffee lids you can sip from. But yeah, it's an environmental thing and it's gaining quite a bit of traction.

Are the lids made of plastic too?

ShatteredElysium posted...

Xiahou Shake posted...

Some of the upper tier fast food restaurants around here have ditched straws entirely in favor of quasi coffee lids you can sip from. But yeah, it's an environmental thing and it's gaining quite a bit of traction.

Are the lids made of plastic too?

...Yes? Since when have lids been made of anything else?
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Logience posted...

...Yes? Since when have lids been made of anything else?

If you're drinking from a biodegradable cup, that lid will also be made of that same substance. We use those in our breakroom at work.
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heh also Toronto and I was just noticing the increased prevalence over the weekend being out for anime north

good stuff tho fuck plastic
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I've seen places with reusable glass straws.
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@Hbthebattle posted...

I've seen places with reusable glass straws.

I doubt they lasted very long.

Also, hi /u/Hbthebattle.
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plastic straws make up only a tiny fraction of ocean trash and banning them entirely hurts accessibility for disabled people, but whatever makes rich people feel good about themselves I guess \_()_/
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Paper straws suck. They get soggy and clog up after a while. Would rather have no straw at all.

the solution is to replace all straws with oreo sticks
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Zyxyz0 posted...

plastic straws make up only a tiny fraction of ocean trash and banning them entirely hurts accessibility for disabled people, but whatever makes rich people feel good about themselves I guess \_()_/

yeah it's actuality very short-sighted policy that's mostly done for optics (and is often pushed for by people profiting off the sales of glass straws)
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paper straws are dumb, they're just a band-aid when we clearly need stitches. if you want to help the environment then bring a reusable straw around with you. if you're a business owner and you really, truly care, stop using straws or provide reusable ones.

i'm going to take this topic to bitch about something that really irks me: i own a small snack bar, we have styrofoam cups because they're cheap and we don't make a ton, we have thin profit margins and we're in a slightly poorer part of the state, so we can't charge a ton.

we get constantly complaints that styrofoam is bad for the environment, so we now advertise that we will give discounts to people that bring their own mugs/cups/whatever. only one person has taken advantage of this. ever. we mostly have repeat customers due to the placement of our snack bar so it's not that people aren't aware or don't come back.

we once had a lady complain about the styrofoam, and when i told her about her policy, she actually laughed and said "no thanks."

like all these people are on their fucking high horses about "muh environment" but when they're told THEY need to do something they don't. they put the burden on anyone but themselves. fuck off with that shit.
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Wow way more Torontonians around here than I thought, including GMUN!! Very nice.

And yeah, I remember the first time I went to A&W when they switched over to the new straws, just terrible. I know Starbucks is going to switch soon, wonder how long McDonalds will hold out or if this is a fad that'll just die out. Surely there's some design between "terrible plastic" and "shit-tier paper" that we haven't gotten to yet.

MartinFF7 posted...

Wow way more Torontonians around here than I thought, including GMUN!! Very nice.

There's probably more Torontonians on this site than there are Canadians from literally anywhere else combined. That's industrial development for you.
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the unofficial toronto topic is the video and arcade topic
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Its a good first step. The solution isnt perfect and all encompassing is what some of these responses read like
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Logience posted...

Just noticing that a lot of different restaurants Ive gone to recently have been using paper straws instead of the usual plastic ones.

BTW Im Torontonian

how is it possible you're only just hearing of this
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Mac Arrowny posted...

using no straw is better than using a paper straw

Ya why don't we just use normal cups and avoid straws all together ?

So much Toronto. Although I live in Orangeville now...
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I've never seen a paper straw but I can't imagine it working very well
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Steiner posted...

Logience posted...

Just noticing that a lot of different restaurants Ive gone to recently have been using paper straws instead of the usual plastic ones.

BTW Im Torontonian

how is it possible you're only just hearing of this

I don't for a second believe that it is the first he is hearing of it.

neonreaper posted...

Its a good first step. The solution isnt perfect and all encompassing is what some of these responses read like

Seems more like "The solution is bad" to me
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MZero11 posted...

I've never seen a paper straw but I can't imagine it working very well

they're lined with wax that works sometimes but not really
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Leonhart4 posted...

neonreaper posted...

Its a good first step. The solution isnt perfect and all encompassing is what some of these responses read like

Seems more like "The solution is bad" to me

that's even worse :(
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neonreaper posted...

Its a good first step. The solution isnt perfect and all encompassing is what some of these responses read like

in every city implementing it there's a grassroots opposition movement of disabled people begging city officials to listen to them. banning single use plastics will have a negligible effect on ocean waste anyway. this is the food babe of environmentalism.
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plastic straws are a total straw man (no pun intended) and give your layman a small perceived "victory" over pollution when the actual solution is a complete overhaul of literally everything

support the green new deal

imprison all big oil executives
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these plastic straws have been replaced in many places by giant plastic lids which just confuses the hell out of me.
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Those lids are typically biodegradable
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why are disabled people unable to use paper straws?
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Had no idea paper straws were even a thing since Im just imagining a straw made of paper tearing apart and being worthless

swordz9 posted...

Had no idea paper straws were even a thing since Im just imagining a straw made of paper tearing apart and being worthless

Yeah, just like paper cups. Can you imagine trying to use a paper cup? It'd fall apart and the liquid would spill all over you.
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Ive had a few paper cups fall apart on me before. A straw is several times thinner than one too. Just never seen a paper one before and never even thought about a straw being anything other than plastic. Saw some metal reusable bendy straws the other day at the store and thought it was weird

honestly the paper straws remind me of a flimsy version of oreo sticks

the similarity is close enough for me to like them even if they suck

...

but straws are supposed to suck!
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swordz9 posted...

Ive had a few paper cups fall apart on me before. A straw is several times thinner than one too. Just never seen a paper one before and never even thought about a straw being anything other than plastic. Saw some metal reusable bendy straws the other day at the store and thought it was weird

The paper straws are more like compacted cardboard straws. At least the ones I saw were.
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I don't mind paper straws. The difference is negligible once you get used to it.
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yeah that's what i said
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I want the Green New Deal to be taken seriously so that we can take serious steps to course-correct

i care about the environment but there's only so much I can really do with what I got. I recycle and shit. that's like it. If I could use environmentally friendly stuff at my restaurant I would. This is capitalist America and I can't afford that shit. Unfortunately to be environmentally friendly is trendy so paying for that stuff is a premium and I ain't McDonalds.

My girlfriend and I have decided we're purposefully not having a kid because the Earth is fucked and putting more people on it won't exactly help. It wasn't an easy decision but it's the one we made.
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UltimaterializerX posted...

You guys will be fine. Try looking up the countries that generate the most waste and produce the most pollution. We aren't even close.

Uhhh.... what?

It's China #1, US #2 and then no-one else comes fucking close. Each of those produce more than the EU combined.

There are some ways to manipulate some per capita waste to show the US as low as like #15th which is still pretty damn high. But even most of those have the US in the top 5.
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mnkboy907 posted...

Better for the environment.

Barely, if at all. Recycled paper has a huge carbon footprint compared to plastic, and some small populations of worms have "learned" to convert plastic as a food.

Non-Recycled paper is actually environmentally better than either, but companies have a "green" initiative to stop that, but as has been stated you could just not use a straw at all.
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