patrick.net

It's pretty shitty and it also feels on the teeth like nails on a chalkboard. A crass leftoid fail since our straws in the west contributed such a miniscule amount of plastic pollution that it wasn't worth handling this topic at all. Also the cardboard straws goo up from the water and can clog sinks and drains pretty effectively.

Personally, I never use straws, I think they suck. I'm always afraid I'm going to stick one in my eye unless I pull it out of the drink.

Straws are for suckers...

They feel like you just ate a napkin. I can't imagine any fucking environmentalist actually enjoying it. I was at Cava and asked for a water cup. They give me a big ol plastic cup with a paper straw. Why not paper cup plastic straw? Wouldn't that save the environment more?

Pretty clowny. God, whoever pushed that is a complete dipshit; they just happened to own part of a paper straw company.

The local SD pizza joint I lunch at often must have replaced ours with high end paper because despite my being pissed off about the virtue signaling control freaks in this state they aren't bad. They seem to have a pretty heavy coat of wax or something on them. I found the place from a buddy who's from New Jersey and he says they are legit.

I was in South Central Texas over the 4th and my niece informed me the trendy thing at her high school is to bring your own metal straw.

Fucking S. Central TX.

Trendy.

P N Dr Lo R says

Personally, I never use straws, I think they suck. I'm always afraid I'm going to stick one in my eye unless I pull it out of the drink.

Same boat. I never use a straw. I agree the paper straw thing is one of the biggests wastes of time though. We’ve got sections of Chicago that have crime rates higher than 3rd world countries (and has been getting worse) but hey, straws.

personal

Automan Empire says

Future humans need that petroleum for far more important uses than disposable straws.

FFS - as if straws are a huge drag on petroleum supplies?

What's next? Plastic forks and spoons? They use far more plastic and are only used once.

Why do you need straws to drink beer?

I don’t use straws at any sit down restaurant and haven’t for many years. It just isn’t masculine to do so. Gives the impression that you’re sucking a little dick. Leave the straws for the girls and the fags.

just_dregalicious says

I was in South Central Texas over the 4th and my niece informed me the trendy thing at her high school is to bring your own metal straw.

Those metal straws can do double duty as a shiv!

woman killed by Metal Straw

https://kfiam640.iheart.com/content/2019-07-09-a-woman-is-killed-by-metal-straw/

socal2 says

FFS - as if straws are a huge drag on petroleum supplies?

Individually no, but multiplied by hundreds of millions of people every day for decades it's huge. Straws are much easier to phase out than utensils.

I don't understand the level of narcissistic don't-give-a-fuck necessary to be so cornucopian about frittering away nonrenewable resources that one ACTIVELY resists conservation habits and efforts.

Damned virtue signalling millenials should get off their fucking iphones. They use more energy than a refrigerator, and hurt environment much more than a few plastic straws.

https://www.geek.com/mobile/your-iphone-could-use-more-energy-than-a-refrigerator-1567814/

Automan Empire says

I don't understand the level of narcissistic don't-give-a-fuck necessary to be so cornucopian about frittering away nonrenewable resources that one ACTIVELY resists conservation habits and efforts.

I don't get this top down nanny-state regulation on small-ball shit like straws.

Most people like me might use 1 straw a week if we are at a restaurant, movie or driving a car with a beverage. Drinking from a straw while driving is safer than drinking an open beverage. Old and disabled people need straws too.

Automan Empire says

I don't understand the level of narcissistic don't-give-a-fuck necessary to be so cornucopian about frittering away nonrenewable resources that one ACTIVELY resists conservation habits and efforts.

Neither do I, but I don’t think this is an example of that. Lemme explain:
1)oil used commonly for plastics isn’t usually used for fuel. The oil from Southern California is mostly used in plastics, as its low grade and the composition isn’t good for refining. So you could argue that the oil we use to make plastic is the cast-off undesirable stuff.
2)Oil is being made, renewed, whatever, all the time. Ocean subduction is how it’s done, where an ocean floor full of carbonaceous sediment is gradually squeezed under another tectonic plate. This takes the carbon to pressure and temperatures that turn it to gas and oil. The Earth is full of oceans and ancient oceans that are no more. The oil is probably most places and in quantity, just not on the surface in so many places we tapped out already. Better drilling and exploration have found billions of barrels of reserve just in the USA in the past twenty years. More is found all the time. It’s probably everywhere at some level of depth.
3)plastic doesn’t have to be made of oil. You can make it from carbon dioxide with the right chemical process. It’s just cheaper to make it from oil.

socal2 says

Drinking from a straw while driving is safer than drinking an open beverage.

Why do Leftists hate automobile safety???

socal2 says

Drinking from a straw while driving is safer than drinking an open beverage

Nice red herring.

A statewide California law restricting the providing of single-use plastic straws went into effect on January 1, 2019.[73] The text of the law is on the California legislature's website. [74] Under the law, restaurants are only allowed to provide single-use plastic straws upon request. The law applies to sit-down restaurants but exempts fast-food restaurants, delis, coffee shops, and restaurants that do takeout only.[75] The law does not apply to to-go cups and takeaway drinks.

Quigley says

The oil from Southern California is mostly used in plastics, as its low grade and the composition isn’t good for refining. So you could argue that the oil we use to make plastic is the cast-off undesirable stuff.

Cool story. I'll shake my head at your profound ignorance every time I drive by one of the fuel depots at local refineries and see the station delivery trucks lined up.

I did a bit more reading, US consumption is 390 million straws PER DAY. That's more than one per capita. I think it's a form of sociopathy for people to dismiss even voluntary waste reduction efforts while also complaining about the necessity of a "nanny state" intervention.

Automan Empire says

I did a bit more reading, US consumption is 390 million straws PER DAY. That's more than one per capita.

I call bullshit on that stat.

Since most people are like me who might use 4 straws a month - that means we have a significant population using 10-20 straws a day??

Again, this is just ridiculous small-ball stuff for the government to get involved in. We are not Asia dumping all of our plastics and straws into the ocean.

Automan Empire says

Cool story. I'll shake my head at your profound ignorance every time I drive by one of the fuel depots at local refineries and see the station delivery trucks lined up

Wait, so you think the local refineries must use local oil? LOL! They’re located on the coast because that’s where the oil tankers can dock and discharge their black cargo.

Quigley says

Wait, so you think the local refineries must use local oil? LOL! They’re located on the coast because that’s where the oil tankers can dock and discharge their black cargo.

Automan Empire is probably right - if oil is too heavy, they just dilute it with lighter versions and use. Ethylene (from which most plastics is made) nowadays is produced mostly by steam-cracking of ethane, which is obtained by fracking. https://chemweek.com/CW/Document/102241/Petrochemicals-Growing-pains-for-US-ethylene. Propylene is made from propane/butane (most derived from fracking), and that is another starting material for plastics (polypropylene). Also, oil is most definitely NOT a renewable resource on time-scale of even hundreds of thousands of years.

Having said that, straw thing is an obvious virtue signalling idiocy. Lets solve 0.02% of the plastic problem..and ignoring the fact that constantly using your phone to send pictures of your meal to instagram, checking your facebook, constantly upgrading your iphone from n to n+1, changing car every 4 years, and setting temperature of your house at 60F in summer and 80F in winter causes many orders of magnitude worse damage to environment and consumes craploads more of renewable resources.

All those billions of straws add up to only about 2,000 tons of the nearly 9 million tons of plastic waste that yearly hits the waters.
https://phys.org/news/2018-04-science-amount-straws-plastic-pollution.html
Even worse, plastic waste mostly originates in Asia, so virtue signalling CA legislature likely damaged more environment by debating and signing the straw law than they will save by banning straws...

Well that's not true for the USA but could be true for the Ottoman Empire...
socal2 says

Automan Empire says

I did a bit more reading, US consumption is 390 million straws PER DAY. That's more than one per capita.

I call bullshit on that stat.

BlueSardine says

I call bullshit on that stat.

Here is my source. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/business/plastic-straws-ban-fact-check-nyt.html The article reveals the widely claimed 500 million a day figure was calculated by a 9yo boy, and quotes two market research companies:

"One market research firm, Freedonia Group, determined that the nation used about 390 million straws a day last year. Another, Technomic, puts the number closer to 170 million, though that count excludes some types of straws."

SunnyvaleCA says

Those metal straws can do double duty as a shiv!

FortWayneIndiana says

woman killed by Metal Straw

Holy Hell! I shall warn my niece!

WookieMan says

We’ve got sections of Chicago that have crime rates higher than 3rd world countries (and has been getting worse) but hey, straws.

This. The Democrat Outrage Deflection Machine to divert your focus from their failures to YOUR failures as a human being.

socal2 says

Most people like me might use 1 straw a week if we are at a restaurant,

Same here. But maybe 4 or 5. Unless I'm using it to suck on some meat. By that I mean to get the air out of a ziplock bag where I've portioned out prime cuts from Costco that are going in the freezer.

Automan Empire says

I did a bit more reading, US consumption is 390 million straws PER DAY.

Now that is some kinky shit. What the fuck are they doing with all those straws!?

d6rB says

iphone from n to n+1

I'm going to plagiarize that when I'm nerding out with the other nerds at work. But it'll be a Samsung. Until I can get a privacy phone I'll stick with the best design.

HonkpilledMaster says

the replacement of Plastic Straws with Paper.

Come on. If the worse problem we have are paper straws, I say we're ok.

Heraclitusstudent says

If the worse problem we have are paper straws, I say we're ok.

It isn't and that's the point.

Heraclitusstudent says

Come on. If the worse problem we have are paper straws, I say we're ok.

The point is California has far worse problems than plastic straws. It's a great example of fiddling while Rome burns, or virtue signalling during a completely preventlable outbreak of long forgotten diseases due to the immigration policy - which creates far more waste than plastic straws.

Just by crossing into the USA, Central Americans quadruple their waste.

And as somebody pointed out, long before plastic straws should be banned, why not plastic cups? Pretty weird the hugeass 24oz. Slurpee cup or Pizza Hut Cup is all plastic but you have to ask for a plastic straw.

HonkpilledMaster says

Just by crossing into the USA, Central Americans quadruple their waste.

This. Any person serious about environment would be in strong opposition of unchecked migration from the 3rd World into the 1st.

HonkpilledMaster says

And as somebody pointed out, long before plastic straws should be banned, why not plastic cups?

Just prohibit air-conditioning and heating of California State capitol and all State offices. Will cut down on waste and emissions substantially.

Anyone doubting Ft. Wayne:

https://www.livescience.com/65925-metal-straw-death.html

I think Straws should only be provided for takeout drink ware.

Who sits around the house drinking from a straw out of a Water Glass?

Nobody, it makes no sense to expect one in a Diner. If that cup is to nasty to put your lips on it. Why would you drink the beverage in it?

That being said, I heard an interview from a local entrepreneur on the radio a few months back. He was saying how he has overcome the soggy paper straw dilemma and promises a straw that feels and behaves every way like a plastic straw. Except it's biodegradable. I didn't think much of it at the time. But on the 4th I got a drink on the beach, and was served a cup with a paper straw covered in a coat of latex or silicone. It felt every bit like a regular straw.

First world problem.......nobody needs a fucking straw...you may want one but you don't need one.

Tenpoundbass says

It felt every bit like a regular straw.

Yeah, they aren't bad right? I bet that wax or whatever is healthier to suck stuff through than plastic. When I first heard paper I thought it would be like paper.

Oh oh! Beeswax straw company! I bet if you got Burt's Bees to market them you'd make a killing off of all those hippies and neomarxist degenerates!

Automan Empire says

BlueSardine says

I call bullshit on that stat.

Here is my source. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/business/plastic-straws-ban-fact-check-nyt.html The article reveals the widely claimed 500 million a day figure was calculated by a 9yo boy, and quotes two market research companies:

"One market research firm, Freedonia Group, determined that the nation used about 390 million straws a day last year. Another, Technomic, puts the number closer to 170 million, though that count excludes some types of straws."

It's possible to get in the middle of those numbers maybe if you include kids. Adults esp. men don't use straws. Still the pollution is tiny.. Compare to all packaged goods you can buy, food and other items. Among the stupidest measures passed ever.

just_dregalicious says

Yeah, they aren't bad right? I bet that wax or whatever is healthier to suck stuff through than plastic. When I first heard paper I thought it would be like paper.

Nobody is a bigger paper straw skeptic than me. The story stuck with me, because they were talking about if South Florida was going to follow Cal and ban plastic straws.

As the guy was talking in the interview saying his paper straws were just as good, I was skeptical. It was a weird looking straw, and I wonder if it would solve the issue of Straws cluttering up City water drainage, which was the impetus for the city bans on some cases.

mell says

Adults esp. men don't use straws.

They DO, by the hundreds of millions every DAY. This is a very sensible campaign. A simple change of habits can reduce a plastic one use disposable by hundreds of millions of units a day, it would be crazy NOT to do.

It's rather curious seeing how invested some people are in maintaining consumer throwaway culture when it primarily benefits the few sellers rather than themselves.

Automan Empire says

They DO, by the hundreds of millions every DAY. This is a very sensible campaign. A simple change of habits can reduce a plastic one use disposable by hundreds of millions of units a day, it would be crazy NOT to do.

Here's a no brainer:

Stop the giveaway of free needles, mostly plastic. Great for sanitation and to reduce plastic consumption.

mell says

Adults esp. men don't use straws.

I agree

komputodo says

I agree

I agree also. So, what's the problem then with a law requiring restaurants to ASK if you want a straw instead of giving you one by default that must be thrown away whether you use it or not?