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!

Less*

The thing is, it is the muti national companies that manufacture and sell said plastic products. Ifvthey start changing their productsvit is a good thing.
The replies on here tell me that most people don't give a shit about green issues. We get the planet we deserve.

I do agree though that people who cant eat or drink through illness need proper straws.

Some paper straws are better than others. We went somewhere in Scotland (garden centre, I think) and their straws were sturdy and lasted the whole drink.

As for stupid bottle caps attached to bottles, drives me insane and for the last 20 years I'd been told to remove the blimmin cap before recycling anyway.

Wooden cutlery tastes like eating your food off a park bench!

I'm very into being as eco as I can, but paper straws aren't fit for purpose most of the time. I use a metal one with my McDonalds etc (and have a wider one for smoothies and shakes). My kids tend to suck their drinks out of the cartons directly now as paper ones dissolve. Great idea to reduce plastic, but they don't really work

I only use them now and then for the Gdcs, but very glad I bought a mega multicoloured pack some years ago - I needed them for strengthening the legs of my first 🎄Nativity set knitted donkey!

There are huge texture issues - especially with wooden cutlery. Luckily most places have a metal spoon lying around. Ah yes! Metal cutlery - that weird stuff you can wash and reuse over and over again! I don't understand how wooden cutlery - clearly processed using plastic anyway - is supposed to be superior. And paper straws are frequently non-recyclable anyway. We used to have biodegradable "plastic" bags. I'm not sure why this technology can't be used for straws.

And they still give you sauce in plastic and drinks with plastic lids on top so the straws feel a worthless gesture anyway!

I read a report that advised the amount of plastic in oceans/the wild/whatever that actually came from plastic straws was something like 0.05%, so yeah bring them back!! And don’t even get me started on food that ends up just tasting of wood!

You went made on reusable straws yet are still complaining about paper ones? Why not just use the reusable ones?

Seems even more wasteful to buy reusable ones and leave them at home and not use them?

I agree, I carry my own plastic cutlery in my handbag, in case I ever should need it, I bought them from good ole Wilkos when it closed down

Nobody needs a straw

https://theconversation.com/banning-straws-might-be-good-for-the-planet-but-bad-for-people-with-disability-or-swallowing-problems-what-is-eco-ableism-199183

Yes they do

And I might not need one, but sometimes I want one.

Gosh I watched that on YouTube, woman collapsed.. but I have heard of children running around with those metal straws in their mouths, doesn’t bare thinking about 😩

I know awful

I mean it was a freak accident but something that could easily happen if you have a metal straw
I will stick with my plastic ones 😂😂

'Cheeky Panda' brand from Amazon are great. Contain bamboo as well so feel like really strong paper straws. They don't go soggy during the normal course of a drink and you can get wider ones for bubble tea and milkshake. Great stripey colours. The normal ones are in boxes of 250 for under £5. I don’t work for them, honestly...this is just a really good product that surpassed expectations and has made it onto my Amazon subscription list for the last 3 years.

I went to London a few weeks ago and had a Margaret a with a pasta tube stuck in it. Felt weird drinking it.

Or we just get out of the habit of drinking whist walking?

But I like walking and drinking my skinny vanilla iced latte

@Malahide

Agree completely - especially for larger frozen drinks.

I bought a big sack of individually wrapped ones from Amazon and keep a couple in my bag.

I definitely agree we need better solutions such as the type that feel like plastic but are biodegradable. The paper ones are useless and the reusable ones give me the ick. They are hard to clean properly and will be prone to mould which will be present before you actually taste it (and some of the disabled people that need them won’t be in a position to clean them). Luckily I don’t currently buy any drinks that require a straw.

Exactly. Or if you like walking while having a coffee bring your keepcup. I have mine and its great. Keeps drinks cold or hot.
There is no excuse for keep buying drinks in single use plastic.

I do buy paper ones for my grandchild but even he struggles to drink out of them but I definitely won’t be buying him a metal one. Must check out the pasta ones (never heard of them) 😁

I bought a huge box of these at a catering supply/cash&carry type place a few years ago and we are still working our way through them. They are fab, indistinguishable from plastic straws: I keep some in the glove box of the car so we don’t have to suffer paper straws 🙄