Why can't they just remove the lid and sip like from a cup ?

Rincewindle said:
If someone can explain to me how the plastic straw i use from McD's that i put in the recycling bin when i finish with it gets half way round the planet and stuck up a Turtles nose..

Then i may think about going paper..

Until then leave me in peace to drink my banana milkshake with a plastic straw.
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Because it gets dumped in land fill, and/or eventually ends up in the sea.
 
Rincewindle said:
If someone can explain to me how the plastic straw i use from McD's that i put in the recycling bin when i finish with it gets half way round the planet and stuck up a Turtles nose..
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It won't, unsurprisingly the plastic straws that get disposed of in the UK will either get recycled or get crushed and stuck on a landfill site. The plastics that end up in the ocean generating the viral images of sea life clutching straws etc.. tend to mostly come from various asian countries.

Various celebs who regularly travel by private jet, have parties on yachts and travel all over the world while updating their Instagram seemed to get on board with the ban plastic straws thing recently...

I've not personally tried the paper straws yet so to be fair I'm not completely averse to the idea, I just don't go to McDonalds very often anyway (which in itself is perhaps a good thing for the environment)! Out of all the things we could perhaps do to help the environment it doesn't seem like a big priority.

(*edit - not sure how the spell checker changed sea life into saline)
 
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mattyfez said:
As I alluded to earlier in the thread...
If you are so busy then why would you have a drink long enough for a paper straw to go soggy? It's a complete nonsense...

It's an argument from a totally lazy and self entitled angle.
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No, it's not. It's not uncommon for a drink to last through a meal and ive had paper straws fall apart in that time. I'm certainly not complaining and i'm glad something is being done but lets not pretend that soggy papper is a brilliant solution for a drinking straw because it isnt. It's obviously more environmentally friendly though so of course so I'm fine with it.
 
dowie said:
I've not personally tried the paper straws yet so to be fair I'm not completely averse to the idea, I just don't go to McDonalds very often anyway (which in itself is perhaps a good thing for the environment)! Out of all the things we could perhaps do to help the environment it doesn't seem like a big priority.
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I do my bit by just using the Metro £1.99 vouchers and getting a chicken burger and fries, with doesn't come with a drink. Saving the planet.
 
Em3bbs said:
I do my bit by just using the Metro £1.99 vouchers and getting a chicken burger and fries, with doesn't come with a drink. Saving the planet.
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Exactly! Plus the chickens are basically battery farmed which is a super efficient use of space!
 
ubersonic said:
The problem with biodegradable plastic ones, is that water impedes biodegrading, and the whole issue that started the whiners off here is plastic straws making their way into the sea (not the production/disposal of the straws as from that perspective paper straws are even worse for the environment).
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I wonder if they could add a coating to make the paper straws a bit more durable which breakdowns after hours of being wet rather going soggy after a few mins then we would be on to a winner.

As it stands they have provided an alternative that performs worse than the original as a token gesture due to some social media pressure. If anything these straws could put people off buying greener / cleaner food packaging products as they are bloody useless when I'm sure other companies are actually innovating to provide a decent alternative.
 
mattyfez said:
Because it gets dumped in land fill, and/or eventually ends up in the sea.
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Remarkable journey for my straw to make then..

To dig itself out of a landfill site.. Then walk to the sea. jump in and swim halfway round the planet looking for a turtle..

This is just another example of the planet saving loonies picking on the wrong country..

We by and large are responsible here we recycle. not as much as we could but we are getting there.

And yet we are banned from using the plastic straws..

Just like those idiots protesting in London saying we are killing the planet etc

The 3 biggest CO2 producers... China.. USA.. and Russia.. why do they not go there and protest since that is where the problem is..

Bunch of idiots getting sick of them.... {rage over}
 
Well had a milkshake the little one was bugging me for one too.

Recieved a straw and it wasn't plastic. Some kind of empty mini toilet roll? The thing tasted like sucking on cardboard, turned to mush after a few sucks, wanted to go back for a refund but drank it without the lid.

Whats going on? Strange time.
 
Rincewindle said:
If someone can explain to me how the plastic straw i use from McD's that i put in the recycling bin when i finish with it gets half way round the planet and stuck up a Turtles nose..

Then i may think about going paper..

Until then leave me in peace to drink my banana milkshake with a plastic straw.
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Because recyclers make money from plastic recycling, and a straw is too small for them to make money from, so they don't bother.

Not to mention they generally have impurities from whatever was drunk through them
 
Rincewindle said:
Remarkable journey for my straw to make then..

To dig itself out of a landfill site.. Then walk to the sea. jump in and swim halfway round the planet looking for a turtle..

This is just another example of the planet saving loonies picking on the wrong country..

We by and large are responsible here we recycle. not as much as we could but we are getting there.

And yet we are banned from using the plastic straws..

Just like those idiots protesting in London saying we are killing the planet etc

The 3 biggest CO2 producers... China.. USA.. and Russia.. why do they not go there and protest since that is where the problem is..

Bunch of idiots getting sick of them.... {rage over}
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In the US, citys and in some cases entire states are banning or will soon ban plastic straws entirely. That's more than we are doing. Not sure why you think this is the result of a bunch of idiots protesting and picking on the wrong country (ours).
 
james.miller said:
No, it's not. It's not uncommon for a drink to last through a meal and ive had paper straws fall apart in that time. I'm certainly not complaining and i'm glad something is being done but lets not pretend that soggy papper is a brilliant solution for a drinking straw because it isnt. It's obviously more environmentally friendly though so of course so I'm fine with it.
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You could have course just drink it normally rather than using a straw... Straws are really just a solution looking for a problem.
A minor convinience at a massive global cost.
 
mattyfez said:
You could have course just drink it normally rather than using a straw... Straws are really just a solution looking for a problem.
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Yes. I don't think that changes anything I've said however. My point was paper straws always did fall apart. It's not new and its not something that people suddenly don't like - it was always the case and if people want to use a straw going forward then that's the compromise. It's an easy one to make, IMO.
 
dowie said:
It won't, unsurprisingly the plastic straws that get disposed of in the UK will either get recycled or get crushed and stuck on a landfill site. The plastics that end up in the ocean generating the viral images of sea life clutching straws etc.. tend to mostly come from various asian countries.

Various celebs who regularly travel by private jet, have parties on yachts and travel all over the world while updating their Instagram seemed to get on board with the ban plastic straws thing recently...

I've not personally tried the paper straws yet so to be fair I'm not completely averse to the idea, I just don't go to McDonalds very often anyway (which in itself is perhaps a good thing for the environment)! Out of all the things we could perhaps do to help the environment it doesn't seem like a big priority.

(*edit - not sure how the spell checker changed sea life into saline)
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Well no, apparently we ship most of our waste off to said Asian countries who can't really cope with it.

China recently caused a ruckus if you remember by refusing to take any more of our waste. But we are still shipping it off to Thailand and other places.
 
Rincewindle said:
Remarkable journey for my straw to make then..

To dig itself out of a landfill site.. Then walk to the sea. jump in and swim halfway round the planet looking for a turtle..

This is just another example of the planet saving loonies picking on the wrong country..

We by and large are responsible here we recycle. not as much as we could but we are getting there.

And yet we are banned from using the plastic straws..

Just like those idiots protesting in London saying we are killing the planet etc

The 3 biggest CO2 producers... China.. USA.. and Russia.. why do they not go there and protest since that is where the problem is..

Bunch of idiots getting sick of them.... {rage over}
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I guess you don't watch Countryfile much.

The landfill sites they historically located along the coast are today - as we speak - leaching plastics and other waste directly into our seas.

Not happening in some Asian country - happening right here in the UK.

We have to take action ourselves and not just say "meh, others are worse, we won't bother until they do." What kind of attitude is that?
 
FoxEye said:
Well no, apparently we ship most of our waste off to said Asian countries who can't really cope with it.

China recently caused a ruckus if you remember by refusing to take any more of our waste. But we are still shipping it off to Thailand and other places.
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Fun fact: 90% of the oceans plastic pollution comes from 10 rivers. 8 of them are in Asia...
 
james.miller said:
Fun fact: 90% of the oceans plastic pollution comes from 10 rivers. 8 of them are in Asia...
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Yes and some of that will be our waste that we shipped off for them to "deal with". Once it leaves the UK it's considered "recycled" as well, in terms of government reporting - regardless of what happens to it after.
 
FoxEye said:
Well no, apparently we ship most of our waste off to said Asian countries who can't really cope with it.

China recently caused a ruckus if you remember by refusing to take any more of our waste. But we are still shipping it off to Thailand and other places.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that is the same as them dumping plastic in the ocean, they also have a big recycling industry. AFAIK it is the stuff that they can't recycle that gets dumped and indeed some of their own waste.
 
dowie said:
I'm not sure that is the same as them dumping plastic in the ocean, they also have a big recycling industry. AFAIK it is the stuff that they can't recycle that gets dumped and indeed some of their own waste.
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There was a really interesting Countryfile episode not so long ago that went to one of the "facilities" in Thailand where women and kids are sorting through this stuff by hand.

It's deeply unpleasant that this counts towards our "recycling" rate in this country.

And yeah, the stuff they can't deal with, you can take a guess where it ends up. Probably in the river next to the "facility".

Sadly the UK govt doesn't care once it leaves our shores, and gets counted as "recycled".
 
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