McDonald's Paper Straws - Yes or No? ( Edit: Mc DonaldsPaper Straws are now officially non-recylable)

[Dredgy]

42 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

I don’t really understand your cons there. What's the issue of them being hard? Or need to clean? They are organic after all.

 

 

 

 

1. Need to clean is not viable in a service situation. We use 500 to 2000 straws a night. On a busy service, I don’t really want a staff member tied up cleaning straws - that’s a huge cost, especially on top of straws that already cost up to 500 times as much as plastic straws. There’s oh&s issues with non-disposable straws if they aren’t cleaned thoroughly and poor consumer reception to a straw being used by someone else. Disposability is crucial.

 

2. So, when we did trials, we found most people bite into straws with an expectation of it to crumple. With metal straws, this actually caused a chipped tooth on a guest. With bamboo straws it’s not as big as an issue because it’s not painful if you do bite into it (less people did bite into the bamboo ones, because they were straight. Some of the metal straws were bent which made people think they were , but people overwhelmingly expect a straw to have a degree of flex to it. We still use bamboo for some tiki cocktails (where we can absorb the cost of the straw and not have to rescues it) where it’s a novelty, but as an everyday straw it’s just not enjoyable to use.

 

Functionality and cost wise plastic is unbeatable. Actual straw was the only alternative guests were happy with. No straw is obviously the best solution.

[Semper]

Biodegradable "plastics" exist in the world. I don't know exactly what their composition is, or if they can truly even be considered a polymer, nor do I know the conditions that foster their biodegrading process, but I know they exist. If you've patronized a frozen yogurt shop any time within the last ten years or so, there's a very good chance you've seen them. Paper straws aren't a viable solution as they (at least the ones that I have personal experience with) begin to saturate with water and disintigrate after just a few minutes. After a period of time that wouldn't be considered unreasonable for a dine-in experience, they can deteriorate to the point that they walls collapse in on themselves as you try to suck liquids through them at which point they're a waste of the paper that was used to make them.

There's a better solution to this specific use case though; don't eat at McDonalds, plain and simple. Save yourself from trash tier food and don't worry about their straws ending up somewhere you wouldn't like.

[Automobili3XF]

A chemist friend has mentioned that depending on the kind of paper they use those could be harmful for humans due to some toxic substances the paper can release on the drink.

I'm all for just not using straws at all, just use a damn cup, that's what they're made for.

[Glinch]

their paper straws are absolute garbage.

[Tog Driver]

This wouldn't be a problem if people weren't idiots and just wouldn't litter . . .

[Misanthrope]

I gave you a pretty left leaning answer so there's at least someone saying what we should be saying: Consumer choices are utterly fucking irrelevant when it comes to plastic pollution particularly at seas where most of that comes from industry directly.

[Tog Driver]

3 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

I gave you a pretty left leaning answer so there's at least someone saying what we should be saying: Consumer choices are utterly fucking irrelevant when it comes to plastic pollution particularly at seas where most of that comes from industry directly.

Industry pollutes plastic straws? 

[dalekphalm]

8 hours ago, kaiju_wars said:

I mean, my only experience is Starbucks with paper straws.  They get kinda soggy, which I didn't like.

 

Also, you either have a plastic straw wrapped in paper... or a paper straw wrapped in plastic.  We're not really saving one or the other.

I'm in agreement that we should move to the drinking lids.  Don't know if it'll happen, but that's what I think we should do.

Why would a paper straw be wrapped in plastic? I've used multiple paper straws at multiple establishments, and literally every one came in a paper wrapper.

 

In fact, the only place I've ever seen use a plastic wrapper is at Subway - and their straws are also plastic.

[dalekphalm]

6 minutes ago, Tog Driver said:

Industry pollutes plastic straws? 

I think he's getting at the fact that plastic straws make up an absolutely insignificant amount of the plastic waste in the ocean. Less than 1% (Not that any ocean plastic is good). 52% of it seems to be generated by the Fishing industry (fishing nets, etc).

[Tog Driver]

29 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

I think he's getting at the fact that plastic straws make up an absolutely insignificant amount of the plastic waste in the ocean. Less than 1% (Not that any ocean plastic is good). 52% of it seems to be generated by the Fishing industry (fishing nets, etc).

True, but this my understanding is this topic is specifically about straws, while straws may make up a tiny portion of the plastic waste, getting rid of them would still help the wildlife in high litter areas.

[kaiju_wars]

37 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Why would a paper straw be wrapped in plastic? I've used multiple paper straws at multiple establishments, and literally every one came in a paper wrapper.

 

In fact, the only place I've ever seen use a plastic wrapper is at Subway - and their straws are also plastic.

Hell if I know, that's what Starbucks does... at least the one here.

That's all I've ever seen paper straws come in also.  So I go back to my point. 

[dalekphalm]

2 minutes ago, Tog Driver said:

True, but this my understanding is this topic is specifically about straws, while straws may make up a tiny portion of the plastic waste, getting rid of them would still help the wildlife in high litter areas.

Agreed - you'd have to seek further clarification from Misanthrope.

 

And I agree that any reduction is a good reduction. I really despise arguments that are "Well it doesn't fix the problem completely so why bother at all" (Though to be clear: I do not think that's what Misanthrope is arguing).

[dalekphalm]

Just now, kaiju_wars said:

Hell if I know, that's what Starbucks does... at least the one here.

That's all I've ever seen paper straws come in also.  So I go back to my point. 

Weird. I don't shop at Starbucks much, so I don't recall how their straws are bundled here in Canada. Granted, the thin sheet plastic of a wrapper is much less harmful to the environment and to animals than a straw is. So even if a Plastic straw wrapped in Paper is replaced with a Paper straw wrapped in Plastic - that's still a net improvement, however slight.

[Tog Driver]

1 minute ago, dalekphalm said:

Agreed - you'd have to seek further clarification from Misanthrope.

 

And I agree that any reduction is a good reduction. I really despise arguments that are "Well it doesn't fix the problem completely so why bother at all" (Though to be clear: I do not think that's what Misanthrope is arguing).

It was also largely supposed to be a joke, I just thought the idea of massive industry dumping plastic straws was kind of funny.

[Norwegiantweaker]

people go apeshit over the most trivial things. i tried the paper straw. had the cup in my car for 2 hours it never disolved. if you dont drink that watered down shit they shuffle at mcd in 2 hours you deserve to suck down some paper 

[ThePD]

To be honest, I don't think I have ever seen a paper straw at any restaurant I have gone to. Maybe my region is behind the times but we do also have pretty goot recycling programs.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

No. Kill them dead and have the people who thought it was a good idea tried for treason.

 

Bamboo or straw straws on the other hand seem good.

[dalekphalm]

This will be an interesting challenge for Canada - we just passed a law that will ban "single use plastics" by 2021. Plastic Straws (along with things like plastic grocery bags) are almost certainly going to be among the yet to be defined list.

 

That gives industry 2 years to find a better solution than Paper straws. Straw straws seem to be pretty good - though I've only ever seen paper ones, and none of the other alternatives.

[DumbAsshole32]

.

[Tech_Dreamer]

there's this thing amazing thing called 'lips' that does this literal jaw dropping thing , as same as straws if you tilt the cup right. but dont complain about your lipstick being ruined or ice getting in your face. coz succy succy no recycle one time.

 

i mean dont demand solution when you're part of the source causing problem. consumers are heavily ironical when it comes to conflicting ideologies playing  good & evil at the same time expecting 'change' .

 

[duncannah]

They're a bit annoying but they're OK I suppose. But I'd rather just sip myself

[BigDamn]

Why not a plastic straw, wrapped in paper, with a metal shell? It'll be 6 inches long, but have extensions to make it whatever size you want. There can also be a back scratcher attachment to hit the tough places. There could also be a vibrating model... if needed...

[Misanthrope]

20 hours ago, Tog Driver said:

True, but this my understanding is this topic is specifically about straws, while straws may make up a tiny portion of the plastic waste, getting rid of them would still help the wildlife in high litter areas.

Frivolous efforts are more damaging ths than "It still helps" since they take away resources and attention from real issues like industrialized fishing and push insignificant consumers against each other in judgemental condemnations of something ultimately trivial by comparison and that does legitimately affect for example, people with certain disabilities that do need straws with plastic being a far better option. 

 

I'm sorry but consumer choices are such a blatant and intentional distraction to have people blame each other individually while billionaires are literally planning on colonizing the moon and Mars while we die here on earth arguing with both climate change denialists and easily fooled concerned liberals that blame people for using straws, plastic bags and not owning an electric car while industry alone can and will fuck up the environment for everybody without any consumer choices making any kind of significant impact.

 

The entire topic of discussing plastic straws is just fucking stupid. 

[Tog Driver]

3 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

Frivolous efforts are more damaging ths than "It still helps" since they take away resources and attention from real issues like industrialized fishing and push insignificant consumers against each other in judgemental condemnations of something ultimately trivial by comparison and that does legitimately affect for example, people with certain disabilities that do need straws with plastic being a far better option. 

 

I'm sorry but consumer choices are such a blatant and intentional distraction to have people blame each other individually while billionaires are literally planning on colonizing the moon and Mars while we die here on earth arguing with both climate change denialists and easily fooled concerned liberals that blame people for using straws, plastic bags and not owning an electric car while industry alone can and will fuck up the environment for everybody without any consumer choices making any kind of significant impact.

 

The entire topic of discussing plastic straws is just fucking stupid. 

Huh, I, I didn't think of it like that, if everyone argueing about plastic straws would instead be pressuring corporations it might make a whole lot of difference. 

[Misanthrope]

3 hours ago, Tog Driver said:

Huh, I, I didn't think of it like that, if everyone argueing about plastic straws would instead be pressuring corporations it might make a whole lot of difference. 

It doesn't matters what you think, the statistics I posted are not countered by what you think and they clearly show how much of a non fucking issue plastic straws are when it comes to water pollution.

 

The problem is that you are just assuming that we should worry about plastic straws and I am saying we do not need to we have much bigger issues. I made an argument specifically to this point and you basically just ignored it by saying "But we might still be able to do something about the thing you just said isn't really an issue without demonstrating why it is a concern"