Post 555488 by tajshekinah@playvicious.social
(DIR) More posts by tajshekinah@playvicious.social
(DIR) Post #555352 by cwebber@octodon.social
2018-10-15T18:58:43Z
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I went out with some friends to a restaurant last night and was like, "huh! this straw is different... what is it... is this paper?"It was paper, and... I thought it was really good! It held up for about forty minutes while staying firm, and even after then it still worked. I thought it was a nice experience. The texture was pleasant too.(cotd ...)
(DIR) Post #555380 by cwebber@octodon.social
2018-10-15T19:00:32Z
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Then this morning, I stopped in a cafe, and someone in front of me in line was ranting to the cashier about paper straws (that establishment didn't even have paper straws). They seemed really angry."It's bullshit. Some of them are going for $100/carton right now, did you know that?" (Uh I looked online, even consumer boxes can be found for less than $10?)I said to him "maybe adoption will drive down the price, that usually happens, maybe it's a good thing?"(cotd ...)
(DIR) Post #555423 by cwebber@octodon.social
2018-10-15T19:02:47Z
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But the dude was pissed, and still ranting. "No, I'm a store owner. I used to be able to get straws for two cents each. This will hurt my bottom line and make consumers cost more. It's a fad, and the sooner people forget it the better." I was feeling uncomfortable so I didn't say anything more...(cotd ...)
(DIR) Post #555459 by cwebber@octodon.social
2018-10-15T19:05:25Z
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It looks like as an ordinary consumer you can get paper straws, not even buying in bulk, at $.08 each, which is 6 cents more I guess than the plastic ones. I dunno... I'd be willing to spend 6 cents more per drink if that meant less waste?I dunno... there was this streak of conservativism in that rant that kind of bugged me. Especially his aggressive insistence to me that prices won't go down as adoption grows... even though that's what happens...
(DIR) Post #555488 by tajshekinah@playvicious.social
2018-10-15T19:06:58Z
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@cwebberMaybe it will drive him out of business, and good riddance. I'm sure his unhinged rant is exactly what that cashier wanted to be dealing with.
(DIR) Post #555760 by neal@social.typica.us
2018-10-15T19:22:02Z
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@cwebber As a business owner I can confirm that lots of business owners complain loudly about imagined problems, but also that sometimes issues related to waste are difficult to properly research. When you look at the entire production to landfill chain it's not uncommon to discover surprising results. I have not done that research specifically regarding straws and am not weighing in on that for now.
(DIR) Post #555773 by cwebber@octodon.social
2018-10-15T19:22:39Z
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@neal the National Park Service has though: https://www.nps.gov/articles/straw-free.htm
(DIR) Post #555881 by neal@social.typica.us
2018-10-15T19:29:03Z
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@cwebber They may have, but it's not at all clear from that link. Specifically, where you often run into surprises is in the pollution impact of paper production. Note, I would not be at all surprised to find that paper straws are superior and it's also obvious that not using a straw or reusing something more durable will be a better choice. The three Rs are in the preferred order: reduce, reuse, recycle.
(DIR) Post #555904 by cwebber@octodon.social
2018-10-15T19:30:53Z
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@neal I mean, the best solution is no straw, which is Reduce. It's just a nice thing that in this case it's something that biodegrades.Plastic *production* is also really awful, in addition to not going away, so I guess I have a hard time believing it was worse.
(DIR) Post #556057 by neal@social.typica.us
2018-10-15T19:37:54Z
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@cwebber Yep, everything is different kinds of awful which makes it hard to compare, though remember that nothing biodegrades in a landfill the way these are currently managed so if you want to take advantage of that it's still important to divert that waste appropriately.
(DIR) Post #556070 by cwebber@octodon.social
2018-10-15T19:38:48Z
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@neal right... though paper does eventually biodegrade in say the ocean or falling on a forest floor (which is why the national parks service is pushing that)
(DIR) Post #556097 by neal@social.typica.us
2018-10-15T19:40:41Z
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@cwebber True, though it's a shame that we're leaving trash in either of those places.
(DIR) Post #556111 by cwebber@octodon.social
2018-10-15T19:41:23Z
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@neal it is... but given it happens, due to laziness or accidentally(and in the ocean case, a lot of that happens *during* current disposal practices)
(DIR) Post #563810 by lufthans@mastodon.social
2018-10-16T03:42:59Z
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@cwebber so all the extra straws that have been left on the table in front of me and the straws in my drinks that I haven't wanted are still less than $20Everybody should throw in $50 for a lifetime supply of on demand paper strawsWe can even connect them together end to end to make pipechain and fund it all with an iso