To just want plastic straws back!

[Malahide]

Lighthearted - mostly!

I’m so sick of paper straws turning to mush before a drink is even finished, they just aren’t fit for purpose. Add in the awful wooden cutlery that you now get (I want my salad to actually taste like salad, not wood!!) and the cardboard takeaway containers which begin to disintegrate as soon as they touch food and all of a sudden I’m reconsidering whether the planet is really worth saving…

I’m joking of course but surely I’m not the only one who feels this way? There have to be better alternatives out there than paper, wood & cardboard that just seem to ruin everything!

I hate to break it you but the planet has bigger issues than cups collapsing a little with ice being funnelled toward your face.

We got some free reusable coffee cups from work. I’ll send you one if you like?

@ImpossibleTh1ng I was simply replying to your question about how it was happening, as it does not happen to you with your small glass of g&t. Not talking about the wider issues but you were really failing to understand how it could happen.

Honestly, I’m gobsmacked. Truly gobsmacked. The facts (and they are facts and not opinions) are;

The planet is heating up at an alarming rate.
Weather events are predicted to get more and more catastrophic. This is already happening and people are already being displaced, traumatised, injured and killed.
We are already, even in the U.K., seeing climate change related elevated deaths and illnesses.
As this happens it will get harder and harder to grow food. We are already seeing this.
This all happening much quicker than predicted and we are rapidly heading for tipping points beyond which there is no return.

What is predicted, as this happens, is that there will be mass migration (already happening due to climate change in some areas) and greater instability (to add to the existing instability due to war and misinformation online).

We also have issues with water running out, loss of biodiversity (no bees = no food) and in the U.K. the uncertainty of what climate change will do because of the desalination of the Gulf Stream. At the moment it’s predicted to be warmer and wetter In lots of places - so think drizzle but warm. Very hard to grow food in those conditions.

The rapid change in climate IS being created mostly by and exacerbated by human activity.

That activity is mostly the use of fossil fuels. Every time we extract and use fossil fuels this releases carbon and contributes to climate change.

Plastic is made using fossil fuels.

Every single use piece of plastic adds to the above.

So I am sorry if this seems rude, but every single person that voted YABR and everyone moaning about squishy cups and straws - just STFU.

Think about the thousands of people that have already died, had their lives ruined by fires and floods exacerbated or caused by climate change and get a bloody grip.

Well, quite frankly, you are a bit of a then.

Yes thank god you do, you better hope its always like that and you dont develop disorders whereby you struggle to drink that way

Soup tastes much nicer from a wooden spoon than a metal one imo.

Piercing a juice box with one makes jr useless for drinking

So buy a reusable one then! Or better still stop buying those little cartons and get yourself a bottle to refill with drink from a large carton. It’s really is not that hard.

It’s not only England. Plastic straws are prohibited in the EU too.

And China

https://www.solinatra.com/news/plastic-bans-around-the-world

And a shed load more…..

It’s also irrelevant what other countries are doing. There are countries in the world that do t allow girls an education. Shall we also lower ourselves to that standard? We should just do the right thing because, we’ll, it’s the right thing to do.

Lower ourselves to their standards. 😱You mean raise ourselves to their standards.

There is a reason more and more countries around the world are doing it.

I hate the feel of the paper ones so I use my own metal straw or just take the paper straw out.

Nobody on this planet (barring people with specific disabilities) needs a straw.

I just bought reusable copper straws and have a couple of metal forks in my car in case I want a salad on the go. We manage to bring our bags for life everywhere since the plaggy bag ban, surely you can organise your life enough to equip you with utensils you need if the paper straws offend you so much?

Surely its not beyond the skills of an average human to take off the lid and sip it? Even a fairly young child can drink from a cup/glass without spilling. (Again, disabilities aside). Or even better refuse a lid in the first place, or bring a reusable mug.

The OP already said that she has no medical need to use a straw. If I do develop a disorder that necessitates one, I doubt my first instinct would be to post a thread about plastic straws. In fact, you might notice that disabled people are not routinely posting about this issue and are perfectly capable of advocating for themselves without a help of able-bodied individual if they choose to do so.

Agreed! And also wooden cutlery makes me yak. Straight into the bin!

This is such a depressing thread. We are such soft pampered ponies, it's embarrassing.

Single use plastic is a terrible thing. We all know this, really.

You don't need to be terribly old to remember growing up when drinks 'on the go' really weren't a thing. The need for disposable cups, containers, straws and cutlery are an acquired habit, and one that's causing pollution on a stratospheric scale, both in terms of fossil fuels used in manufacturing and as plastic waste in oceans, watercourses, on beaches and in landfill. We don't need to be drinking (or eating) stuff out of disposable recepticles using disposable tools. It's an expectation, a fanciful preference foisted upon us by commercial interests in a shortsighted capitalist system. I've just attended a 4-day event where participants were encouraged to bring their own mugs for take-away drinks. Literally nobody moaned.

Single use plastic obviously has its uses in medicine and medical care (although, again, hospitals did use to manage), but most healthy, able-bodied adults and children bent on drinking stuff which can only be imbibed through straws can use a reusable or biodegradable alternative. To say anything else is disingenuous. My kids have used the same set of metal straws for over a decade. To whinge about needing to clean them with a narrow brush ‐wtf!? Just crack on and do it?

And, @Malahide , it's not "light-hearted". That's the problem. "Light-hearted" threads like these amplify and normalise laziness, entitlement and I'm-alright-Jack mentality. Individuals insisting their preference and convenience should take some kind of precedence in issues like these have brought us to the brink of climate collapse and profound environmental damage.

It's p a t h e t i c.

It makes you yak.🙄Seriously!

Why can't you use your mouth for thick milkshakes?

And how do you manage considering that is all that is on offer?🤔

One can only assume you use your fingers. If you’d like something to help you eat food requiring utensils there are plenty of very small reusable travel cutlery sets you might want to consider investing in.