To think we are getting inferior products in the name of "environmentally friendly"

[Keyansier]

Just as the title says really. I do think it is very scary and sad for countries that have floods and fires and experience other extreme weather but is that enough reason for example, in this country, for a ban on plastic straws? Nobody I know even likes paper straws, I certainly don't. Does anyone else think that people might care more about this issue if products weren't changed for inferior versions without public consultation and people didn't get looked down upon or made to feel bad for not wanting to recycle?

"Other countries must have floods and fires because I can't be arsed to recycle and I don't like paper straws".

How self centred.

I hate, hate, hate cardboard straws, they trigger my sensory issues. So like the adult I am I bought myself reusable ones.

At the moment, one in 4 agree with her. I would love to hear the reasons.

Is your question whether we should have to give up plastic straws to help save other peoples lives?

Lol just noticed your username. I wish I hadn't bothered engaging.

The paper straw on Capri Sun cartons is hopeless at piercing the cartons.

The new Coke Zero bottles with the attached lid are very difficult to use and more than once I've not secured it properly before placing the bottle back in the fridge

👏

@MereDintofPandiculation this op is a man. A 28 year old grown man.

There was a public consultation.

consult.defra.gov.uk/waste-and-recycling/plastic-straws-stirrers-and-buds/

So you feel bad about people whose lives have been devastated by mud slides, flood, drought, famine... but not enough to use a paper straw?

This is why the human race deserves to die out. Just a shame we are taking the planet with us.

Oh god it's you, the most self centred person to ever exist.

This OP depressed me but the responses have cheered me right up. What a nob you are OP.

Straws as the cure for the environment is a ridiculous bit of grandstanding. Paper straws are disgusting. However, reusable straws are easy to buy now and there is nothing stopping you from acquiring a set. I personally prefer the hard acrylic variety. Yes, I know, more plastic, but I’m still using the same set of 4 that I bought, I was going to say a couple of years, but I’m pretty sure my child was a toddler and she is a teenager now so it has to be over 10 at least.

it costs you nothing to recycle. Well, I suppose you have to think about putting something into the left or right bin. I’m guessing you have enough mental capacity to complete a task most toddlers have mastered.

I wouldn’t have an issue with paper straws if they weren’t such a token gesture. In fast food stores and drinks chains etc (eg: Costa, McDonalds, KFC) the straws are paper but they still sell drinks in clear plastic cups and have plastic lids. Why haven’t these products moved to paper? I can only presume they don’t want things like Frappuccino’s in recyclable paper cups because they don’t look as good on social media etc whereas paper vs plastic straws make no difference to the look of the drink even though it is near impossible to drink a milkshake or frappe through a paper straw without it going soggy half way through.

Fucking hell. I hope this is a sick joke.

Lots of reusable products are better quality than their disposable counterparts
I think the problem is that people get used to certain things and change is unsettling, also lots of reusable/recyclable products require you to think about stuff in a way that you could be lazy with cheap disposable stuff.

Paper straws are useless.

But with all due respect to the majority of replies so far, this is what I was referring to in my OP about people being hostile when someone gives an unpopular opinion from the "main crowd" on this. It's people's personal choice to do things like recycling and buying environmentally-conscious but when the shoes are on the other foot, it's very often not the case anymore, and people feel free to abruptly question others about it when they choose not to.

Your opinion isn't just different though; it's selfish.

You literally said you shouldn't have to use paper straws to contribute towards the environment even though you know our current behaviours are killing others around the world.

Agreed. And they have been hoisted upon us as a nation without even our say so or asked for our opinions. If they wanted to do this they should have done half paper for those who wanted them and half plastic for those who wanted the original version, but it's obvious why they didn't choose to do that, because one option would be a million times more popular than the other...

What's the hassle to you to recycle?

It's literally no bother at all.

It's fundamentally being a lazy bastard not to recycle. Are you a lazy bastard?

They did ask for our opinions. Here.

consult.defra.gov.uk/environmental-quality/consultation-on-proposals-to-ban-commonly-littered/

I'd care about recycling plastic more if I knew my council was going to recycle it. But they don't. It just ends up in the general waste. The only useful purpose recycling plastic has where I am, is that it frees up space in the general rubbish bin.

JFC. Pop down your crack pipe please.

The quality of most things we buy these days has nothing on the quality of goods in the past. I'm old and I remember paper straws from when I was a kid, before plastic or reusable ones were even thought of, and they were just fine. Dunno what they've done to them today, but they're rubbish. Clothes, shoes, kitchen appliances, paint, you name it, the quality and therefore longevity has nothing on what we used to buy.