The only reason I use a straw is because of ice. Can we ban ice as well?
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Well, yes. But getting rid of plastic straws is easy. And EU is one of the biggest markets in the world, which means there’s great incentives for making alternative, biodegradable, non-plastic straws available for the European market, which in turn means they will be more available elsewhere as well.
It’s a baby step, yes, but it’s not pointless or worthless. And it goes beyond plastic straws, covering also stuff like plastic single-use cutlery, cotton swabs, and more.
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Hm. A supply of cheap stainless steel tubing with a flexible bendy bit…
Yes. I had a severe laceration of the soft palate. Next question?
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Wow! That sounds horrible.
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The tweets say, in summary, “straw bans are bad”. Point conceded (which is to say, yes, those affected are directly making this complaint, it wasn’t just ginned up by the straw industry or something). The Guardian story actually addresses the substantive point I brought up, viz. the question of why it’s so critical that straws, out of all accommodations, are specially in need of protection: “and for those with limited mobility, bringing and then accessing their own utensils is just another hurdle to enjoying something commonly available to the able-bodied”. This seems to fall well short of “I can’t go out any more if restaurants don’t provide them”, but sure, it’s fair to say that the harm of “another hurdle” is worth considering vs. the benefit of reducing mindless (ab)use of plastic straws and disposable articles in general. The lack of acknowledgement that this tradeoff even exists seems to me to be a more important point than how it’s resolved; more below.
Since you went to the trouble, I watched the video even though I usually don’t (because you can’t easily speed-read or skim a video, also I just don’t care for the medium). I think the summary at 11:21 is pretty good: “this video is not really about straws, the debate is not really about straws, it’s about listening to the needs of disabled people”. That’s fair, and clearly there was a failure on the part of the anti-straw campaigners to consider that straws aren’t merely an indulgence (or “tiny luxury”) for everyone. I knew about invisible disabilities already, being aware of them is an ongoing struggle even for those of us who actively want to be. For that matter I participated in that failure in some of my earlier comments (viz. the one about drinking hot liquids and the one about hard straws causing tooth chips). Mea culpa.
None of that convinces me that it’s indisputably wrong as a matter of policy to shake up the status quo, as long as affected persons still can easily purchase straws for their own use. For one thing, if we really were to accept the contrary position, then it follows that restaurants must be required to provide straws, which not all do. Clearly, others disagree.
Anyway, thanks for the willingness to treat this as an actual discussion and not a point-scoring event.
I have no idea. I wouldn’t guess that membership in a political action group, no matter how admirable, would by itself mean you were affected by availability of drinking straws, but if you say so, I’m not going to gainsay you.
(etc)
OK. I was looking for concrete information specific to this topic, but thanks.
My ranting on this was spread across a few posts and maybe even then not super cohesive.
To sum up: We should definitely stop using plastic straws like we are currently (except where it makes sense, like the differently abled). Buying steel straws at 10 bucks a pop from the BB store is not really going to help reduce plastic straw consumption.
I have them. Better than plastic.
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