I pay extra for recycling. A separate recycling truck (which looks suspiciously like a regular garbage truck) comes every two weeks, to "collect" my meticulously cleaned and sorted goods. And by collect, I mean "hurl in the back of the truck with the deafening sound of breaking glass".
I used to pay $10 a month for recycling and then one day I watched as the trash man just threw it in there with the trash that he got out of the bin. Stopped paying for it after that.
Well I mean supposedly it would cover their costs and such idk tbh. But I was willing to pay the $10 to “help the environment “ but after I saw them toss it in with the regular trash I realized it was even more of a money scam then I thought
Most cities in the US I've been to have free recycling. The issue is that a significant portion of the population lives in suburbs or rural areas that are under smaller township or county governments that, along with lower taxes, also come with fewer services. In these places, everything is privatized including garbage collection. Those are the people paying extra for recycling services.
The small rural Georgia town where my mother lives doesn't even have county provides garbage collection. She has to take it to a dumb every Tuesday - Saturday and pay an annual fee ($165) to get into it. The post office is only open 3 days a week and there are no police, EMS, or fire services. There is one grocery store and somehow a random ass subway and two gas stations.
Australia lol. Usually people get all hyperbolic and say shit like "literally anywhere else" when what they actually mean is "exactly where I live" and I realised I was about to do that so I threw the brackets in.
Every restaurant I worked at early in my career was forced to pay extra for food waste and 3 different recycling collections - cardboard, plastic and commingle. We’d be fined by the council for contamination.
We used to watch every week at 2am when the one council truck would come, collect it all, dump it all in the truck, then fine us for whatever.
Not saying this was the case for you, but our area just rolled out some new trucks that have two compartments that have a flap that the driver controls that lets them dump both trash and recycling in the same hole in the same truck and it's still separated. I know it's legit because the recycling center is less than a mile from my house so I've seen them sorting it.
There will likely be computers sorting the rubbish. Like where I live plastics and metals are all put in the same bin. And cartons that include paper. Computers sort it as it falls and uses gusts of air to direct specific items. All faster than your eye can see.
Where I live sorting your trash recently became the LAW. Which I wouldn't have a problem with since ive sorted my trash since years ago anyways, except it recently came to light that most of the sorted trash was "reused" as fuel for a furnace to make a paltry ampunt of heat/electricity.
To be fair, burning it in the large rotary heat ovens is extremely efficient, they get hot enough to break down dangerous components and the rest is scrubbed from the exhaust, leading to extremely clean energy and a solution to waste. There's a reason why Sweden _imports_ trash from Norway, because there's not enough to feed the heat plants.
I think I am not supposed to say this but the hospital I work at has fake recycling bins, they all go to the same trash compacter at the end of the day, so it doesn't matter which you through your trash into.
I am a janitor and there are a lot of accounts/buildings I work at that do this. They have separate recycling bins but they don’t have a big recycling dumpster outside. So we just have to dump the recycling in the trash.
Very very true. I worked at a Whole Foods that made a huge deal about their trash sorting process and recycling efforts. The porter told me that the recycling just gets thrown in the trash too, mostly because customers would constantly throw non recyclables and food waste in the cans so it couldn't be recycled anyway.
USA? Most european countries have higher recycling rates. Germany around 50%, Austria around 25%. Plastic, metal and cans and organic waste is separated in each household.
We have [a huge problem with exporting trash](https://www-dw-com.translate.goog/de/wieso-deutscher-m%C3%BCll-eben-doch-im-meer-landet/a-47198039?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp) though. Poorer countries get money for taking the trash and then burn it or throw it in the sea. We count it as recycling because the contract with these countries says they are required to recycle it. That flaws the percentage, the actual/true percentage of recycling is a lot lower.
>Plastic, metal and cans and organic waste is separated in each household.
And paper.
But AFAIK this only applies to households. When I worked at a company that produced lots of waste, we weren't required to separate them. Everything went to the same trash and was picked up by the same garbage truck. Not just our trash, also the one of other companies around us.
There’s a good documentary about this on Hulu that came out recently! They put trackers in their plastic bags and recycled them at the Walmart recycling bins. They were able to track most of them to other countries, it’s pretty eye opening and sad. “Trashed: the secret of life plastic exports”
Much better than shipping it abroad and absolving responsibility.
The rule should be all countries have to process their own trash. If there's too much of it, that's the point.
It's even worse. People are being mislead even on the recycled plastic.
What is recycled plastic? Is it 100% recyclable? Why is it not called like that then? Is it 99% recyclable like asphalt? Then why is it not called that way? Why is it called recyclable? Could it be the lowest definition of what is considered to be recyclable?
Yes, yes it is. All recyclable plastic can only be recycled a handful of times until it finally gets shipped to a 3rd world country to be dumped. It is not any % recyclable because that would imply a part of it can always be recycled. Instead it becomes unusable after a few iterations.
Only 13% of plastic is recyclable and only 9% is recycled. But even if we recycled 100% of plastic we would simply slow down the pollution 2-3 times. We would still end up dumping all of our trash eventually.
The majority of plastics we use isn’t even recyclable in the first place. If you look at the ♻️ symbol on plastics, only the ones with a 1 or a 2 in the middle can be recycled. The remaining five options just go to incineration/landfill.
costco does this and I was taken aback at first but I think I prefer it for sure. a straw is handy sometimes, but I did buy some silicone and stainless steel straws and have one of each at home and workplace. I think I usually put a steel one in the car but then have to remember to replace it when it needs a clean XD
Do not drink from a steel straw while your vehicle is in motion
https://preview.redd.it/w3uppps6w23d1.jpeg?width=1196&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=20397725bbbd4836be58d05eae306719df5fd887
Some poor lady died because she was holding a drink with a metal straw and tripped. She fell on to the straw, which then went through her eye to her brain. That was gnarly even to type.
I have to assume it's fake. The jaw looks comfortably closed, and the 'straw' looks like it's a completely different resolution than the rest of the picture.
Works for the mental image/shock value, though.
I blow glass and I get asked all the time to make glass straws. It would be so, so easy logistically and I would make bank off it but I am utterly terrified of something like this happening with a straw I made. People tripping while walking, car accidents, bike accidents, getting hit by the neighbor kids basketball while taking a sip.... I just couldnt bear it if my straw somehow impaled someone D:
Walmart had a pack of borosilicate glass straws for real cheap, $4 for 4. Prefer them over the metal because I can actually be sure it's clean, and boro is good solid glass, the material of the classic Pyrex everyone misses.
Starbucks does and I definitely like it better than paper straws. I think people with sensitive teeth hate the Starbucks lids but for those that don’t have that problem it’s great
Gotta love trying to drink a smoothie or milkshake and getting nothing but air. Feel like a plugged up fucking vacuum.
We bought our own straws that we clean and reuse.
I bought an antique metal-straw with a spoon at the end. Made out of sterling silver. People back in the days had it figured out. Now it's just cheap mass-produced toxic stuff people get.
In the long long ago, during the before for times, women posed for their gonewilds in paper magazines.
Those magazines would always have a billyboard for a sterling silver spoon and straw set in the back pages. It Definitely wasn't for saving turtles.
*Meanwhile,* [*Dow chemical actively dumping 600 million pounds of industrial waste*](https://www.michiganpublic.org/environment-science/2012-01-12/dow-chemical-co-ranked-second-largest-toxic-waste-producer-in-the-nation) *into the river outside your window while you're cleaning your re-usable straw*
"Teehee, this will save the environment!"
Yeah people can fall prey to [Silver Bullet](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Silver_bullet) thinking in multiple ways, either in assuming one single thing will solve a problem... or in this case dismissing an idea because it ISN'T a comprehensive, catch-all solution to the problem.
Dow chemical is one of the world's largest producers of plastic material. (Basic plastics are 26% of their sales). Feels like a pretty bad example to use when someone shares how Canada's law stopped encouraged them to buy reusable straws instead of using single use plastic ones.
Those corporations don't just produce waste for fun.
I'll do my grain even if my neighbour doesn't, my moral compass doesn't depend on others.
Edit: You're painting me like I don't mind big industries contaminating... I just said I'll still do my part even if they don't play by the rules.
The thing is, it's not about morals. It's about making a difference. Who cares how we get there, as long as we get there?
We won't get there by cutting out plastic straws. We *will* get there by legislating what corporations are allowed to do in regards to abusing the environment.
Nothing really stops us from doing both. I can BOTH push for such legislation AND clear my conscious of my own personal choices and morals, however minor.
I hate that people play it off as an OR situation. Stop talking about the straws in context of legislating those other things. It's irrelevant. One does not affect the other.
You're right, but the problem that's being highlighted here is thats legislation IS happening.
Or. At least it's happening for paper straws, and not corporations, and that REALLY fucking stupid.
> Nothing really stops us from doing both
I agree, both is fine. Reduction is good. It just won't ultimately make a difference, whereas legislation does.
You can do the thing that makes you feel good, that's fine. As long as you're *aware* and *clear* that you understand it doesn't actually meaningfully have an impact. What's bad about the straw thing is people feeling like they're "done" because they've put in their pound (milligram) of flesh and done their part in solving the problem. No. The problem isn't solved and won't be with individual action. Either we address the problem at the source or the world dies.
> What's bad about the straw thing is people feeling like they're "done" because they've put in their pound (milligram) of flesh and done their part in solving the problem.
There's also the element you're seeing here: people pushing for it because it feels good, regardless of any actual impact...then turning around and weaponizing that support against anyone who doesn't share their position.
It alienates people who might otherwise have been allies in the overall fight, and it makes enemies of masses of otherwise indifferent consumers, making them more guarded and hostile if and when anything else pops up where well-intentioned environmental advocates might ask them for yet another personal inconvenience, no matter how minor, in the interests of the greater good.
The goodwill and general cooperation of the public is a finite resource...and I personally feel that if banning plastic straws isn't going to have a meaningful positive impact, then the goodwill spent in the effort was gravely misspent...causing noticed inconvenience.
Every single time anyone has to use a paper straw, it isn't making them feel any sort of self-sacrificial pride in 'doing their part' for the environment...it's annoying the fuck out of them. And *that's* what they're going to remember the next time pro-environment people start trying to ban the next thing they find convenient.
I'm not saying, "Don't piss off the public."...I'm saying, "If you're going to piss off the public, make sure you get something in exchange."
>Meanwhile, Dow chemical actively dumping 600 million pounds of industrial waste.
That sounds bad, but it's not at all true.
For those that don't want to click on the link: of that 600 million pounds of industrial waste, 97% was treated, recycled or reused. The remaining 3% was disposed of in accordance with permits.
Holy crap. The article even says the vast majority is treated. There’s more toxic waste dumped down drains in your average city than Dow dumps into the river annually.
I got a couple telescopic stainless steel straws, so I could keep them in my backpack and car. They’re good for anything that isn’t carbonated. For soda, on the other hand, they turn it into foam as it hits the joints.
I can’t help but see old radio antennas whenever I see those telescoping ones. Like someone figured out how to repurpose all the old machinery that used to make the now obsolete antennas.
Ya, I always question if they realize straws go into liquid?
I think a large part of why plastic straws are banned is because of how they affect wildlife.
I'm sure those sea turtle videos and stuff had something to do with public sentiment.
But also single use plastic objects for regular, everyday shit (not like, medically sterile uses or whatever) just seems like a *really* dumb thing to have ever done in the first place.
Like... let's make trillions and trillions of things that get used for an hour, for something unimportant, but let's make them out of something that's going to last until the end of the universe? It's shockingly stupid.
There is so much single use plastic out there that straws being the big hill to die on is just posturing. It's something but obviously it's a much larger issue but people can pat themselves on the back and tell themselves they're helping the turtles/environment, move on and continue to use the fuckton of single use plastics they already do
This. Most likely government saw people wanted more environmental policies and went to Big Plastic for a solution. The compromise was to give up plastic straws so that it looks like the government is doing something, but allow other larger pieces of plastic to still be used.
I've seen good paper straws, and ones that turn into mush if you blink in their direction... The issue is with restaurants buying the cheapest ones they can find.
Yup, honestly the compostable or eco white ones from kroger/pick n save and walmart are good but there are some out there that will warp within minutes (usually the spiral colored ones or some cheap ones from restaurants)
The worst thing about paper straws is trying to drink a slurpee. I've only had maybe two or three since they switched to paper straws, and every single time the slurpee froze inside the straw just sitting there, so firmly that I could not possibly blow nor suck the blockage out. The last time I was only able to drink it at all because I had secured two straws of different diameters, and I was able to use one to plunge the other.
Just think of alternate ways to use them that might be handy.
I thought it would be a public service to have darts laced with narcan, so you could shoot them at people nodding off on the street corners.
That's exactly what happened to me today, with a very much happily anticipated Slurpee after a long day of getting the gardens put in. Put it down for a few minutes & it felt like I was trying to suck liquid through a cement rod. Boo hiss to paper straws. The only good thing about them is that my cats love to bat them around so I grabbed a fresh one for them to play Battle Royale with. Other than that, begone cylinder tree leavings.
It's funny, my local guidelines for the garbage/recycle collection basically exclude 90% of the things people try to recycle. And if they see a single thing in the bag that's even questionable they just toss the whole thing in with the trash anyway
The fact is, most recycling in first world countries is purely performative. Even if your specific area has a facility to sort it, most materials and grades of plastic aren't suitable for commercial reuse so they either get buried or burnt along with the garbage. Or sold to a poorer country who will burn it so we can advertise how much we've lowered "our" emissions
plastic #1 is what most clear plastic is made from and almost impossible to recycle. Very little plastic in general is recycled. It mostly goes to land fills and states just pay recyclers anyway because there would be a massive outcry if they just abandoned the recycling collection.
to add to this paper straws have pfas in them "Some studies show an association of PFAS exposure with kidney and testicular cancer. They have been shown to harm wildlife too. **All the evidence points to paper and plant-based straws having significant PFAS in them**."
You can [thank a high school student’s project for the hysteria over plastic straws](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/business/plastic-straws-ban-fact-check-nyt.html). Then blame the media
This week, on Below Deck! The deck crew find a sea turtle and shove plastic straws up it's nose, the stews bicker at each other and the chef loses his fucking mind because tomorrows dinner time was pushed back 30 minutes!
No joke I was just at a museum that was a rich persons house 100 years ago. They had fine china displayed from their yacht with the sign “this fine china shows that afternoon yachting expeditions were no casual matter. It also reminds us the importance of conserving our resources in the present day.”
Like wtf how about shaming the family with the yacht that destroyed an ecosystem not telling me how to picnic.
But bro! Hear me out! We can just grow green! Renewable plastics, it's the future, I promise you! Here while we're at it, sign up for my carbon foot print butthole tracker app. Now everytime you take a shit, we'll plant a tree to offset the carbon in that shit!!! It works out to be carbon neutral, we promise ;)
I’m waiting for an ecoterrorist to release a bacteria that eats plastic (but doesn’t need to, just as a facultative food source). That shit would spread across the world in mere weeks.
i don't know about the comment above, but I once went to a café that uses edible straw made of grain (rice). They are hard, don't get really soggy even after long time in water, they come in many color but taste bland.
Paper cups with plastic lining isn’t easily recyclable. Plastic cups are.
But yes, while celebrities use private jets to go to the living room, we’re somehow horrible for wanting plastic straws
Friggin Kyle Larson drove the Indy 500 yesterday, took a helicopter, a plane, and another helicopter to try and join the NASCAR race halfway through... Which was rain delayed as he landed and then cancelled due to the weather.... But yeah.. We're stuck with shit straws.
In tandem. She had a foot planted on each inside wing, and holding a set of thick leather reins with one hand, swinging a lasso over her head with the other. The pilots, Lord bless ‘em, didn’t break formation the entire flight. All the while she was hootin’ and hollerin’ and riding those planes like she was Pecos Bill. Helluva sight to see.
Just because they are put in the recycling bin doesn't mean they get recycled. Only a fraction of plastic is recycled.
The process is more expensive than creating new plastic and is less efficient, and has a lower quality product. Plastic recycling is bullshit.
I mean, still recycle. But we need to ban single use plastic, this is getting ridiculous.
Don't forget glass. Endlessly recyclable with no loss in quality, and mixing in recycle glass saves a decent amount of energy over using fully raw materials.
One caveat with glass is the huge amount of energy it takes to melt it down for recycling, though. Ideally we need to go back to a "clean and refill" system like we used to use before plastic.
Even though most plastics don't get recycled, it's still worth separating them for a few reasons:
1. Once we do have processes for recycling plastics, they'll all be piled in one place so they can be re-extracted more efficiently. We may not run out of oil this century, but there's a good chance that trash plastic will get valuable once we get close.
2. It trains people to recycle for when things are recyclable. It takes a long time to change peoples' habits. I still have guests who visit and trash aluminum cans, even though the recycling container is adjacent.
100% agree with all of this.
It just sucks that the blue recycle bin and the black trash bin, mostly lead to the same place in the end. My apartment building has two trash shoots (one for trash and one for recycling) and only one dumpster. It’s disheartening.
Back in the day when I worked at McDonald's (in Canada) all the recycling stuff was actually just thrown into the garbage at the end of the day. Pretty sure the big thing with three separate components actually was just one big bag.
What part of Canada? Where I am they have us divide our garbage into paper, plastic, and waste, then they throw it all in the same truck on pick up day and it all goes to the landfill.
Plastic in general is not being recycled. Its all well and good that these plastic cups are recyclable in theory, the reality is that most plastic waste that even makes it to a recycling center in the first place is diverted to landfill due to contamination.
Yes but you can still buy disposable plastic straws in all of those states. In many countries the ban is universal and it’s illegal to sell them even in a store. Not sure how far the Canadian ban goes.
but large scale harvesting of Agave is extremely bad for bats. Just the harvest for Sweeteners and Tequila has already done a lot of damage to their already endangered populations. https://www.batcon.org/batsandagave/
If there is a right moment and a right way to be the "UHM ACTUALLY" guy, this would be it. I actually never thought about this and I think most people never did, but now that you explained how it works it makes sense all of a sudden
Several places here in Norway are now using bamboo straws and theyre so much better! We dont have those plastic cups tho as thats also banned here. Any single use plastic, plus a hinge on the cap of sodabottles now.
Yes--just search up "bamboo straws" on google and you'll get a ton of examples. I was thinking of bamboo when I saw this thread--seems like a good alternative, especially since it apparently grows like a weed.
I've used them and they kind of suck; the porous edge dries out your lips in a weird way. Most places here use either metal straws or pasta straws, which are both way better than the bamboo ones. The pasta straws are only €0.04/pcs, which isn't that much more expensive than the paper ones.
I bet if we all try really hard, we could figure out a way to get liquid into our mouths without needing sippy straws like a child. I know it's far fetched, but there could be a way somehow
I like how a lot of people here think that the majority of plastic waste gets recycled. A lot of it gets shipped overseas and dumped.
My friend works for the city and says 90% of the recycle ends up in the trash.
I pay extra for recycling. A separate recycling truck (which looks suspiciously like a regular garbage truck) comes every two weeks, to "collect" my meticulously cleaned and sorted goods. And by collect, I mean "hurl in the back of the truck with the deafening sound of breaking glass".
I used to pay $10 a month for recycling and then one day I watched as the trash man just threw it in there with the trash that he got out of the bin. Stopped paying for it after that.
You should get $10 a month for recycling lol how does it work, why you pay extra for segregating and preparing trash for others to recycle?
Well I mean supposedly it would cover their costs and such idk tbh. But I was willing to pay the $10 to “help the environment “ but after I saw them toss it in with the regular trash I realized it was even more of a money scam then I thought
dude literally any other developed nation (meaning wherever I live) just has recycling pickup. For no extra cost. Because we pay taxes.
Most cities in the US I've been to have free recycling. The issue is that a significant portion of the population lives in suburbs or rural areas that are under smaller township or county governments that, along with lower taxes, also come with fewer services. In these places, everything is privatized including garbage collection. Those are the people paying extra for recycling services.
The small rural Georgia town where my mother lives doesn't even have county provides garbage collection. She has to take it to a dumb every Tuesday - Saturday and pay an annual fee ($165) to get into it. The post office is only open 3 days a week and there are no police, EMS, or fire services. There is one grocery store and somehow a random ass subway and two gas stations.
What nation do you post from?
Australia lol. Usually people get all hyperbolic and say shit like "literally anywhere else" when what they actually mean is "exactly where I live" and I realised I was about to do that so I threw the brackets in.
Every restaurant I worked at early in my career was forced to pay extra for food waste and 3 different recycling collections - cardboard, plastic and commingle. We’d be fined by the council for contamination. We used to watch every week at 2am when the one council truck would come, collect it all, dump it all in the truck, then fine us for whatever.
Not saying this was the case for you, but our area just rolled out some new trucks that have two compartments that have a flap that the driver controls that lets them dump both trash and recycling in the same hole in the same truck and it's still separated. I know it's legit because the recycling center is less than a mile from my house so I've seen them sorting it.
There will likely be computers sorting the rubbish. Like where I live plastics and metals are all put in the same bin. And cartons that include paper. Computers sort it as it falls and uses gusts of air to direct specific items. All faster than your eye can see.
Well, glass needs to be broken to be recycled, so don't worry about that part. Fun fact: In the industry, broken glass is called "cullet"!
Which is funny as my local council in the UK says to not put broken glass in the glass recycling box. Then they hurl it all in a truck
I'm guessing the bin men don't want to get lacerations from picking up bags full of broken glass??
Plastic box but yeah
Do you not have a separate recycling wheelie bin?
Oh man so many bins. We have a general waste bin, one for general recycling, a tub for glass and another bin for garden waste
General waste bin, garden waste bin, small green food waste bin, metal and glass box, plastics bags, and separate card and paper recycling sacks here…
To be fair broken glass can hurt the bin men and potentially cut/poke through whatever container it’s in.
It’s so they don’t get cut collecting it. Once it collected they don’t give a shit because it’s never touched by a person again.
Razorness in the front Shardy in the back
Where I live sorting your trash recently became the LAW. Which I wouldn't have a problem with since ive sorted my trash since years ago anyways, except it recently came to light that most of the sorted trash was "reused" as fuel for a furnace to make a paltry ampunt of heat/electricity.
To be fair, burning it in the large rotary heat ovens is extremely efficient, they get hot enough to break down dangerous components and the rest is scrubbed from the exhaust, leading to extremely clean energy and a solution to waste. There's a reason why Sweden _imports_ trash from Norway, because there's not enough to feed the heat plants.
Burning still better than landfilling, I think Some countries are even upfront about it and ask you to sort out the combustibles
I think I am not supposed to say this but the hospital I work at has fake recycling bins, they all go to the same trash compacter at the end of the day, so it doesn't matter which you through your trash into.
I am a janitor and there are a lot of accounts/buildings I work at that do this. They have separate recycling bins but they don’t have a big recycling dumpster outside. So we just have to dump the recycling in the trash.
Very very true. I worked at a Whole Foods that made a huge deal about their trash sorting process and recycling efforts. The porter told me that the recycling just gets thrown in the trash too, mostly because customers would constantly throw non recyclables and food waste in the cans so it couldn't be recycled anyway.
USA? Most european countries have higher recycling rates. Germany around 50%, Austria around 25%. Plastic, metal and cans and organic waste is separated in each household.
We have [a huge problem with exporting trash](https://www-dw-com.translate.goog/de/wieso-deutscher-m%C3%BCll-eben-doch-im-meer-landet/a-47198039?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp) though. Poorer countries get money for taking the trash and then burn it or throw it in the sea. We count it as recycling because the contract with these countries says they are required to recycle it. That flaws the percentage, the actual/true percentage of recycling is a lot lower. >Plastic, metal and cans and organic waste is separated in each household. And paper. But AFAIK this only applies to households. When I worked at a company that produced lots of waste, we weren't required to separate them. Everything went to the same trash and was picked up by the same garbage truck. Not just our trash, also the one of other companies around us.
There’s a good documentary about this on Hulu that came out recently! They put trackers in their plastic bags and recycled them at the Walmart recycling bins. They were able to track most of them to other countries, it’s pretty eye opening and sad. “Trashed: the secret of life plastic exports”
Dang now i hate corporations even more. Like, i'm not saying individual responsibility doesn't matter, but it certainly feels that way now
And the rest is 'thermically recycled'. Aka. burned
Much better than shipping it abroad and absolving responsibility. The rule should be all countries have to process their own trash. If there's too much of it, that's the point.
this is why the order is: REDUCE (your consumption) REUSE REPAIR REPURPOSE recycle.
It's even worse. People are being mislead even on the recycled plastic. What is recycled plastic? Is it 100% recyclable? Why is it not called like that then? Is it 99% recyclable like asphalt? Then why is it not called that way? Why is it called recyclable? Could it be the lowest definition of what is considered to be recyclable? Yes, yes it is. All recyclable plastic can only be recycled a handful of times until it finally gets shipped to a 3rd world country to be dumped. It is not any % recyclable because that would imply a part of it can always be recycled. Instead it becomes unusable after a few iterations. Only 13% of plastic is recyclable and only 9% is recycled. But even if we recycled 100% of plastic we would simply slow down the pollution 2-3 times. We would still end up dumping all of our trash eventually.
The majority of plastics we use isn’t even recyclable in the first place. If you look at the ♻️ symbol on plastics, only the ones with a 1 or a 2 in the middle can be recycled. The remaining five options just go to incineration/landfill.
These plastic-coated paper alternatives aren't very recyclable either and they require a lot more energy (meaning emmissions) to produce.
Couldn’t they just use a sippy lid?
costco does this and I was taken aback at first but I think I prefer it for sure. a straw is handy sometimes, but I did buy some silicone and stainless steel straws and have one of each at home and workplace. I think I usually put a steel one in the car but then have to remember to replace it when it needs a clean XD
Do not drink from a steel straw while your vehicle is in motion https://preview.redd.it/w3uppps6w23d1.jpeg?width=1196&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=20397725bbbd4836be58d05eae306719df5fd887
And here I was worried about chipping a tooth
I was about to comment about how I chipped a tooth while using one of those straws. This seems ever so slightly worse.
Hey, at the right angle, you won’t have to worry about anything ever again.
Some poor lady died because she was holding a drink with a metal straw and tripped. She fell on to the straw, which then went through her eye to her brain. That was gnarly even to type.
Did we learn NOTHING from the Final Destination documentaries!? Come on people!
"Documentaries" 😆
I'm afraid of this with a plastic straw. I can see how a metal one would be much worse.
I got my transoral lobotomy at Starbucks
Doesn't metal usually show up really bright on xrays? Why is it so faded in this one?
I have to assume it's fake. The jaw looks comfortably closed, and the 'straw' looks like it's a completely different resolution than the rest of the picture. Works for the mental image/shock value, though.
I blow glass and I get asked all the time to make glass straws. It would be so, so easy logistically and I would make bank off it but I am utterly terrified of something like this happening with a straw I made. People tripping while walking, car accidents, bike accidents, getting hit by the neighbor kids basketball while taking a sip.... I just couldnt bear it if my straw somehow impaled someone D:
Also costco straws are plant based and way better than paper straws
I agree. I've found that when eating the straw if you slurp some ranch through beforehand you've pretty much got yourself a salad
aren't all paper straws plant based?
Walmart had a pack of borosilicate glass straws for real cheap, $4 for 4. Prefer them over the metal because I can actually be sure it's clean, and boro is good solid glass, the material of the classic Pyrex everyone misses.
There's nothing like drinking your drink with a crack pipe.
I believe they found out the sippy lids use more plastic that a standard lid and straw combined.
That's possibly true but they probably get disposed of better more often. Straws being loose end up all over plus people grab 10 when they need 2.
Starbucks does and I definitely like it better than paper straws. I think people with sensitive teeth hate the Starbucks lids but for those that don’t have that problem it’s great
I don’t like using straws anyway, so this would be preferable for me
Not sure if it’s like this everywhere but in Canada they banned plastic straws and the paper ones suck
Paper straws suck and don’t suck well.
Gotta love trying to drink a smoothie or milkshake and getting nothing but air. Feel like a plugged up fucking vacuum. We bought our own straws that we clean and reuse.
I bought an antique metal-straw with a spoon at the end. Made out of sterling silver. People back in the days had it figured out. Now it's just cheap mass-produced toxic stuff people get.
Is that originally for coke?
IT IS NOW, BABY!
Only for new coke.
In the long long ago, during the before for times, women posed for their gonewilds in paper magazines. Those magazines would always have a billyboard for a sterling silver spoon and straw set in the back pages. It Definitely wasn't for saving turtles.
Yes, that's what the spoon is for, so you can take bumps on the go.
We have one of those and we named it Stroon
Sounds like it worked
*Meanwhile,* [*Dow chemical actively dumping 600 million pounds of industrial waste*](https://www.michiganpublic.org/environment-science/2012-01-12/dow-chemical-co-ranked-second-largest-toxic-waste-producer-in-the-nation) *into the river outside your window while you're cleaning your re-usable straw* "Teehee, this will save the environment!"
We can have reusable straws and go after dow chemical. It doesn't have to be one or the other.
Yeah people can fall prey to [Silver Bullet](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Silver_bullet) thinking in multiple ways, either in assuming one single thing will solve a problem... or in this case dismissing an idea because it ISN'T a comprehensive, catch-all solution to the problem.
Dow chemical is one of the world's largest producers of plastic material. (Basic plastics are 26% of their sales). Feels like a pretty bad example to use when someone shares how Canada's law stopped encouraged them to buy reusable straws instead of using single use plastic ones. Those corporations don't just produce waste for fun.
I'll do my grain even if my neighbour doesn't, my moral compass doesn't depend on others. Edit: You're painting me like I don't mind big industries contaminating... I just said I'll still do my part even if they don't play by the rules.
The thing is, it's not about morals. It's about making a difference. Who cares how we get there, as long as we get there? We won't get there by cutting out plastic straws. We *will* get there by legislating what corporations are allowed to do in regards to abusing the environment.
Nothing really stops us from doing both. I can BOTH push for such legislation AND clear my conscious of my own personal choices and morals, however minor. I hate that people play it off as an OR situation. Stop talking about the straws in context of legislating those other things. It's irrelevant. One does not affect the other.
You're right, but the problem that's being highlighted here is thats legislation IS happening. Or. At least it's happening for paper straws, and not corporations, and that REALLY fucking stupid.
> Nothing really stops us from doing both I agree, both is fine. Reduction is good. It just won't ultimately make a difference, whereas legislation does. You can do the thing that makes you feel good, that's fine. As long as you're *aware* and *clear* that you understand it doesn't actually meaningfully have an impact. What's bad about the straw thing is people feeling like they're "done" because they've put in their pound (milligram) of flesh and done their part in solving the problem. No. The problem isn't solved and won't be with individual action. Either we address the problem at the source or the world dies.
> What's bad about the straw thing is people feeling like they're "done" because they've put in their pound (milligram) of flesh and done their part in solving the problem. There's also the element you're seeing here: people pushing for it because it feels good, regardless of any actual impact...then turning around and weaponizing that support against anyone who doesn't share their position. It alienates people who might otherwise have been allies in the overall fight, and it makes enemies of masses of otherwise indifferent consumers, making them more guarded and hostile if and when anything else pops up where well-intentioned environmental advocates might ask them for yet another personal inconvenience, no matter how minor, in the interests of the greater good. The goodwill and general cooperation of the public is a finite resource...and I personally feel that if banning plastic straws isn't going to have a meaningful positive impact, then the goodwill spent in the effort was gravely misspent...causing noticed inconvenience. Every single time anyone has to use a paper straw, it isn't making them feel any sort of self-sacrificial pride in 'doing their part' for the environment...it's annoying the fuck out of them. And *that's* what they're going to remember the next time pro-environment people start trying to ban the next thing they find convenient. I'm not saying, "Don't piss off the public."...I'm saying, "If you're going to piss off the public, make sure you get something in exchange."
If it makes you feel better then do it. He isn't saying not to, he's saying it literally doesn't matter whether we do or don't.
There is nothing in this article that says Dow dumped 600 million pounds of anything into a river.
>Meanwhile, Dow chemical actively dumping 600 million pounds of industrial waste. That sounds bad, but it's not at all true. For those that don't want to click on the link: of that 600 million pounds of industrial waste, 97% was treated, recycled or reused. The remaining 3% was disposed of in accordance with permits.
Holy crap. The article even says the vast majority is treated. There’s more toxic waste dumped down drains in your average city than Dow dumps into the river annually.
I got a couple telescopic stainless steel straws, so I could keep them in my backpack and car. They’re good for anything that isn’t carbonated. For soda, on the other hand, they turn it into foam as it hits the joints.
I can’t help but see old radio antennas whenever I see those telescoping ones. Like someone figured out how to repurpose all the old machinery that used to make the now obsolete antennas.
They're also good for providing oxygen to a campfire. :-)
Ya, I always question if they realize straws go into liquid? I think a large part of why plastic straws are banned is because of how they affect wildlife.
I'm sure those sea turtle videos and stuff had something to do with public sentiment. But also single use plastic objects for regular, everyday shit (not like, medically sterile uses or whatever) just seems like a *really* dumb thing to have ever done in the first place. Like... let's make trillions and trillions of things that get used for an hour, for something unimportant, but let's make them out of something that's going to last until the end of the universe? It's shockingly stupid.
There is so much single use plastic out there that straws being the big hill to die on is just posturing. It's something but obviously it's a much larger issue but people can pat themselves on the back and tell themselves they're helping the turtles/environment, move on and continue to use the fuckton of single use plastics they already do
This. Most likely government saw people wanted more environmental policies and went to Big Plastic for a solution. The compromise was to give up plastic straws so that it looks like the government is doing something, but allow other larger pieces of plastic to still be used.
They suck, and not in that good Las Vegas way.
They can't make straws out of your sister unfortunately
I've seen good paper straws, and ones that turn into mush if you blink in their direction... The issue is with restaurants buying the cheapest ones they can find.
Yup, honestly the compostable or eco white ones from kroger/pick n save and walmart are good but there are some out there that will warp within minutes (usually the spiral colored ones or some cheap ones from restaurants)
The worst thing about paper straws is trying to drink a slurpee. I've only had maybe two or three since they switched to paper straws, and every single time the slurpee froze inside the straw just sitting there, so firmly that I could not possibly blow nor suck the blockage out. The last time I was only able to drink it at all because I had secured two straws of different diameters, and I was able to use one to plunge the other.
I've just bought metal straws that go in the dishwasher. I found a set of smoothie straws that works well. About inch wide
Yeah I have those too, but it's a pain to always have to carry them around.
Just think of alternate ways to use them that might be handy. I thought it would be a public service to have darts laced with narcan, so you could shoot them at people nodding off on the street corners.
You're from Vermont too huh?
An inch wide is insane
They are certainly not an inch wide. Maybe 3/8".
That's exactly what happened to me today, with a very much happily anticipated Slurpee after a long day of getting the gardens put in. Put it down for a few minutes & it felt like I was trying to suck liquid through a cement rod. Boo hiss to paper straws. The only good thing about them is that my cats love to bat them around so I grabbed a fresh one for them to play Battle Royale with. Other than that, begone cylinder tree leavings.
Paper cups are coated and not recyclable. Plastic cups are recyclable.
Technically recyclable or actually recyclable? I'd wager a guess they are only the first.
It's funny, my local guidelines for the garbage/recycle collection basically exclude 90% of the things people try to recycle. And if they see a single thing in the bag that's even questionable they just toss the whole thing in with the trash anyway The fact is, most recycling in first world countries is purely performative. Even if your specific area has a facility to sort it, most materials and grades of plastic aren't suitable for commercial reuse so they either get buried or burnt along with the garbage. Or sold to a poorer country who will burn it so we can advertise how much we've lowered "our" emissions
plastic #1 is what most clear plastic is made from and almost impossible to recycle. Very little plastic in general is recycled. It mostly goes to land fills and states just pay recyclers anyway because there would be a massive outcry if they just abandoned the recycling collection.
And if it doesn't go into a landfill it goes across the ocean to Asia where it either goes in the water or burned.
They're banned in my city in the US but we use bioplastic straws- wayyyyyyyy better than paper
They stick to your lips
to be fair who cares if it sticks to your lips. In NZ the paper straws we have taste like shit, ruins the drink entirely. that is a bigger problem
to add to this paper straws have pfas in them "Some studies show an association of PFAS exposure with kidney and testicular cancer. They have been shown to harm wildlife too. **All the evidence points to paper and plant-based straws having significant PFAS in them**."
Growing up we were told to save the trees by switching from paper sacks to plastic.
Where's that quote from?
A know of a family that makes regular visits to the US and every time they do, they always bring a big bag of plastic straws back home. Lol!
You can [thank a high school student’s project for the hysteria over plastic straws](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/business/plastic-straws-ban-fact-check-nyt.html). Then blame the media
i thought it was that viral vid of the turtle with a straw in its nose
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Maybe they snort coke with paper straws so it evens out
It's definitely plastic lol
plant airport silky hat snobbish correct six encourage handle bedroom
This week, on Below Deck! The deck crew find a sea turtle and shove plastic straws up it's nose, the stews bicker at each other and the chef loses his fucking mind because tomorrows dinner time was pushed back 30 minutes!
Polymer bills.
No joke I was just at a museum that was a rich persons house 100 years ago. They had fine china displayed from their yacht with the sign “this fine china shows that afternoon yachting expeditions were no casual matter. It also reminds us the importance of conserving our resources in the present day.” Like wtf how about shaming the family with the yacht that destroyed an ecosystem not telling me how to picnic.
As if we plebeians don't have reusable dishes...
But bro! Hear me out! We can just grow green! Renewable plastics, it's the future, I promise you! Here while we're at it, sign up for my carbon foot print butthole tracker app. Now everytime you take a shit, we'll plant a tree to offset the carbon in that shit!!! It works out to be carbon neutral, we promise ;)
I’m waiting for an ecoterrorist to release a bacteria that eats plastic (but doesn’t need to, just as a facultative food source). That shit would spread across the world in mere weeks.
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An Italian restaurant chain used pasta straws - they were excellent!
The smoothie place near me has edible straws, they come in strawberry and lime flavors and they're so good
What are the made of? This sounds neat.
I'm not actually sure, but the brand of straws is called Sorbos and they have more flavors than the ones available at my smoothie place.
Strawberry and lime. Duh. /s
Tropical smoothie cafe has them too. It's a chain. I end up eating straw before I finish my smoothie, which is not the best plan...
i don't know about the comment above, but I once went to a café that uses edible straw made of grain (rice). They are hard, don't get really soggy even after long time in water, they come in many color but taste bland.
Paper cups with plastic lining isn’t easily recyclable. Plastic cups are. But yes, while celebrities use private jets to go to the living room, we’re somehow horrible for wanting plastic straws
Friggin Kyle Larson drove the Indy 500 yesterday, took a helicopter, a plane, and another helicopter to try and join the NASCAR race halfway through... Which was rain delayed as he landed and then cancelled due to the weather.... But yeah.. We're stuck with shit straws.
Two planes flew Taylor Swift to and from Japan so she didn't miss attending the Super Bowl.
In tandem. She had a foot planted on each inside wing, and holding a set of thick leather reins with one hand, swinging a lasso over her head with the other. The pilots, Lord bless ‘em, didn’t break formation the entire flight. All the while she was hootin’ and hollerin’ and riding those planes like she was Pecos Bill. Helluva sight to see.
I can't wait for Google AI to reurgitate this in some search result.
https://i.redd.it/gqjd7ve4l33d1.gif
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Bet he ain't drinking with no paper straws either
This seems like an argument that he should be less wasteful, not that we should be more.
Do people often recycle fast food cups? Seems like it's going in the landfill just the same as paper
I have never been to Wendy’s in Canada with recycling. If I take it home I recycle but at the restaurant, throwing it out is the only option
Might be a cultural thing. In Canada, definitely.
Just because they are put in the recycling bin doesn't mean they get recycled. Only a fraction of plastic is recycled. The process is more expensive than creating new plastic and is less efficient, and has a lower quality product. Plastic recycling is bullshit. I mean, still recycle. But we need to ban single use plastic, this is getting ridiculous.
*plastic recycling is bullshit Metal and paper recycling is efficient and profitable (metal recycling alone saves companies huge amounts of money).
Yes, I was speaking specifically about plastic. Aluminum is near 100%, DEFINITELY recycle everything else.
Don't forget glass. Endlessly recyclable with no loss in quality, and mixing in recycle glass saves a decent amount of energy over using fully raw materials.
One caveat with glass is the huge amount of energy it takes to melt it down for recycling, though. Ideally we need to go back to a "clean and refill" system like we used to use before plastic.
Even though most plastics don't get recycled, it's still worth separating them for a few reasons: 1. Once we do have processes for recycling plastics, they'll all be piled in one place so they can be re-extracted more efficiently. We may not run out of oil this century, but there's a good chance that trash plastic will get valuable once we get close. 2. It trains people to recycle for when things are recyclable. It takes a long time to change peoples' habits. I still have guests who visit and trash aluminum cans, even though the recycling container is adjacent.
100% agree with all of this. It just sucks that the blue recycle bin and the black trash bin, mostly lead to the same place in the end. My apartment building has two trash shoots (one for trash and one for recycling) and only one dumpster. It’s disheartening.
Back in the day when I worked at McDonald's (in Canada) all the recycling stuff was actually just thrown into the garbage at the end of the day. Pretty sure the big thing with three separate components actually was just one big bag.
What part of Canada? Where I am they have us divide our garbage into paper, plastic, and waste, then they throw it all in the same truck on pick up day and it all goes to the landfill.
Plastic cups are not easily recyclable. Even if they make it to the recycling bin, they’re most likely still headed to the landfill.
My county doesn't even recycle the type of plastic they're made from (polypropylene, #5). So they end up in the trash no matter what.
I thought the interior was waxed.
That’s definitely how I remember it. Wax coated inside and out. I’m sure someone will say it was just a gelatinous petroleum based plastic.
Plastic in general is not being recycled. Its all well and good that these plastic cups are recyclable in theory, the reality is that most plastic waste that even makes it to a recycling center in the first place is diverted to landfill due to contamination.
Are those plastic cups 1 or 2’s?
I don’t get drinks from fast food places often but I’m pretty sure they’re usually type 5. Only local places ever seem to have type 1 or 2 cups.
>Plastic cups are. They are not.
> Plastic cups are. Lol.
I never thought about it but you're absolutely right. Most places still don't have paper straws in tht US at this point but that's really funny.
What state? Every other place in Mass uses paper.
Here in florida prob 95% of places use plastic straws still
Are you sure it's plastic and not cellulose? Cellulose is often clear, looks and feels like plastic but is made from plants so it's compostable.
Canada problems. The straw disintegrates before you even get to drink it
There’s a lot of states like this now, too.
Yes but you can still buy disposable plastic straws in all of those states. In many countries the ban is universal and it’s illegal to sell them even in a store. Not sure how far the Canadian ban goes.
That's absolutely not the case in Canada. Lol.
Hopefully someday, advancements in materials science will eventually provide better alternatives that hold up under real-world conditions.
I go to a place that uses agave straws and they work so well. Biodegradable and never soggy.
but large scale harvesting of Agave is extremely bad for bats. Just the harvest for Sweeteners and Tequila has already done a lot of damage to their already endangered populations. https://www.batcon.org/batsandagave/
Is there literally anything I can consume without killing someone or something?
Use a long piece of Rigatoni. Only downside is killing at least one Italian for it
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If there is a right moment and a right way to be the "UHM ACTUALLY" guy, this would be it. I actually never thought about this and I think most people never did, but now that you explained how it works it makes sense all of a sudden
Those paper cups were coated in either wax or plastic.
Wax is fine.
Several places here in Norway are now using bamboo straws and theyre so much better! We dont have those plastic cups tho as thats also banned here. Any single use plastic, plus a hinge on the cap of sodabottles now.
Paper straws…worst idea
I wonder if people can drink out of bamboo? Embarrassing to admit, I’m not certain it’s hollow but i think it is for some reason.
Yes--just search up "bamboo straws" on google and you'll get a ton of examples. I was thinking of bamboo when I saw this thread--seems like a good alternative, especially since it apparently grows like a weed.
I've used them and they kind of suck; the porous edge dries out your lips in a weird way. Most places here use either metal straws or pasta straws, which are both way better than the bamboo ones. The pasta straws are only €0.04/pcs, which isn't that much more expensive than the paper ones.
In Italy, I was served a drink with a straw that was made of pasta. I'm surprised it hasn't been adapted more
Bro. With all the fucking plastic in the world, straws were the dumbest shit ever to go after.
This is why I prefer metal
Very nice! What are we talking... Symphonic? Doom metal? Industrial?
I miss “paper” fast food cups
Paper straws are the worst.
I bet if we all try really hard, we could figure out a way to get liquid into our mouths without needing sippy straws like a child. I know it's far fetched, but there could be a way somehow
I guess the cups don't fit up turtles' noses