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1 hour ago, The Crusher said:

Not an option. My goatee serves as a flavor saver. If I drink without a straw it’s not pretty. 

Haha, I understand. I have a big mustache so I know how it is. Definitely a pain in the arse but looking good ain’t free. 

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So paper straws suck (pun intended).  No, they are really awful.  They get soggy and that's it.

HOWEVER....

Glass straws are the bomb!  No plastic straws in my house, so we are fully sea turtle compliant because we love the glass straws.  I don't think I would go back to plastic even if they were deemed biodegradable.  

At first I was hesitant, but trust me, it's all good with these things.

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12 minutes ago, nycdan said:

So paper straws suck (pun intended).  No, they are really awful.  They get soggy and that's it.

HOWEVER....

Glass straws are the bomb!  No plastic straws in my house, so we are fully sea turtle compliant because we love the glass straws.  I don't think I would go back to plastic even if they were deemed biodegradable.  

At first I was hesitant, but trust me, it's all good with these things.

I loved the stainless steel straws.   My problem was how to clean/sanitize them properly.  I would imagine it's the same issue with glass straws.  The water and solvent can't get up into either straw in a dish washer.   Probably difficult to do when hand washing, too.

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25 minutes ago, munchmemory said:

I loved the stainless steel straws.   My problem was how to clean/sanitize them properly.  I would imagine it's the same issue with glass straws.  The water and solvent can't get up into either straw in a dish washer.   Probably difficult to do when hand washing, too.

The glass straws come with a brush that cleans them pretty easily.  But honestly, I usually just run hot water through them for a moment and put them in the dishwasher.  That works for things like iced coffee or cocktails.  For smoothies, the straw is best but it's easy enough.

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1 minute ago, nycdan said:

The glass straws come with a brush that cleans them pretty easily.  But honestly, I usually just run hot water through them for a moment and put them in the dishwasher.  That works for things like iced coffee or cocktails.  For smoothies, the straw is best but it's easy enough.

Thanks.  Glad there is a system for cleaning.

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1 hour ago, The Crusher said:

We use the hollowed out bones of vegans in my home. @Bronx

I totally understand your disgust for paper straws, they are weak an flimsy. Can't blame you for starting this thread. A true downside to straws made of hordearii bones, thick and strong and easy to suck on.

 

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On 5/31/2021 at 9:18 AM, The Crusher said:

WTF with these things? Worse idea ever! 

Living in California I've become quite familiar with things like alternatives to plastic straws. I'm sorry this idiocy seems to have spread and infected wherever you're living. I mean first of all I want to note that it's a dumb thing done with the best of intentions, like so many other things. People hear about plastic pollution in the ocean and see pictures of dead sea turtles and seals and sh*t and want to help. I mean who wants to kill a sea turtle by having a pepsi you know? But then they make these uninformed and overbearing changes which doesn't really benefit anyone. The vast majority of plastic pollution in the ocean comes from outside the United States (~90%) so any reduction in plastic pollution here isn't really going to solve any problems or keep the oceans clean.

 

Second I want to note the unintended consequences of bans on plastic straws and forcing alternatives like paper or metal. First of all it hurts the single serve plastic industry of course. Maybe you don't care about that and think that's a bad industry anyway that should be phased out. Well, ok I can see that as a point of view and I wont call it invalid but in the short term it still might cost people their livelihoods. Also, and I think people in my own generation or younger might not know this, but part of the push to use more plastics such as for things like drinks or grocery bags was because people didn't like how many trees were being cut down to provide the paper. It was trading one environmental issue for another. Now we're just flipping the script again and I'm not sure I see the point if it's not even actually helping the environment much if at all. Another thing a lot of people don't know is the effect this has on some handicapped people. There are people who kind of actually need plastic straws (particularly the kind with the bendy neck) to drink. I've seen this first hand so the push to eliminate plastic straws is frustrating on a personal level and more than just as an inconvenience.

 

The last thing I want to mention is how bad the alternatives to plastic straws are. I've used a paper straw and yes they do have a weird (papery) flavor and they do get soggy. It's not really a nice experience. I've also used rubber, which had a rubbery taste but was better than paper. But like glass and metal which I have not used rubber and any other "reusable" straw must be cleaned which is a pain and if you don't clean them they get really nasty inside. I've heard that glass and metal can be potentially dangerous although I haven't seen any first hand accounts of anyone being injured by one. I can imagine it's happened though. I don't really like the idea of putting a glass or metal tube in my mouth to be honest. One last thing I tried at one restaurant was a pasta straw. Yes it was an uncooked piece of pasta. Surprisingly this is the best plastic alternative I've tried. It took way longer than a paper straw before it got soggy and the taste was fine for most of my meal. Once it did get soggy though the starches started coming off into my drink and it wasn't that pleasant. Overall I've never seen an alternative to plastic I thought worked just as well.

 

The whole thing with replacing plastic straws is short sighted and inconvenient even in the best of circumstances.

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Plastic straws account for .03% of the world’s plastic pollution. Commercial fishing gear accounts for 46%. Not a single change has been made for commercial fisheries but we’re drinking from paper straws because of some stupid viral video of some one in a billion chance one went up a turtle’s nose. We really can be a stupid species sometimes.


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I'm not saying that straws are the problem, but when micro-plastic particles are appearing in every place on earth, including the Arctic and South Polar ice, and every level of the oceans, it's a problem.  Not starting anywhere because it's 'not the biggest source of the problem' is a mandate for failure.  Prove out a few small successes by transforming the smaller things, and you can leverage that into bigger wins.

Personally, I miss the plastic grocery bags because they were really useful for picking up pet poop.  So I was forced to adapt, and it's not quite as convenient.  On the other hand, I never would have discovered glass straws if not for the turtle videos and my daughter complaining about it, and honestly, I actually prefer them and wouldn't go back to plastic, except in restaurants.  I drink at least one iced coffee every day about eight months out of the year, so that's roughly 245 straws each year I don't use anymore.  Small win.

Plastic overuse is a global problem.  You guys are right.  There are other countries doing WAY more damage to the global ecology than the U.S., but we were, and still are, pretty awful.  There's nothing wrong with trying to fix the problem in small ways when the only downside is maybe a moment of inconvenience to rinse a straw or put it in the dishwasher.  Once we prove certain alternatives out, we can consider pressuring other countries into following suit, particularly those who we support financially or trade substantially with.

Honestly, single-use water bottles are probably a much bigger issue.  I can't imagine how many billions of them the U.S. alone burns through each year.  My family has made some progress in using re-usable water bottles, but the convenience really stands out there.  I think the biggest change will come when someone develops a much more bio-degradable material that can do everything a plastic bottle does now, only doesn't last thousands of years in a landfill.  That should be a game-changer.  Fingers crossed.

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