Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Community > MacNN Lounge > Environmental News: The Last Straw

Environmental News: The Last Straw
Thread Tools
andi*pandi
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: inside 128, north of 90
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2018, 04:26 PM
 
Per And.reg:
The City of Seattle and many major corps including Starbucks and American Airlines are getting rid of plastic straws.
     
andi*pandi  (op)
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: inside 128, north of 90
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2018, 04:31 PM
 
The straw trend started with a Girl Scout who convinced Alaska Air to get rid of straws.
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/con...lastic-straws/

Straws are a good thing to use less of, as they can't be recycled and inexpensive paper straws work for most other purposes. Cutlery however is harder to convince people to make the switch to wood or cornstarch.

Interestingly, after this supposed good news in the land of recycling, I heard some disabled communities are not pleased about this because paper or metal straws wouldn't work for them. So there will have to be some plastic straws still on request.
( Last edited by andi*pandi; Jul 11, 2018 at 04:43 PM. )
     
Spheric Harlot
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: 888500128, C3, 2nd soft.
Status: Online
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2018, 04:35 PM
 
The trend started decades ago with countries beginning the outlaw free plastic bags.
     
andi*pandi  (op)
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: inside 128, north of 90
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2018, 04:43 PM
 
As well as convincing us to carry our own water bottles around instead of disposable all the time.
     
subego
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Chicago, Bang! Bang!
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2018, 04:52 PM
 
Some places are switching to non-disposable straws. I’d guess the inside gets teh funky.

It’s sexist, but I don’t think straws are a good look on an adult male. I’ll use them with fast food, or a shake, but that’s it.
     
mindwaves
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Irvine, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 11, 2018, 10:12 PM
 
I do not know why straws and plastic forks and knives aren't recyclable or at least reusable. Besides some people chewing on the straws and cutlery, any reason why they are not reusable, at least for a few times? Drop into some soapy water and a bit of disinfectant and they should be good to go. When I use plastic cutlery on picnics and such, I always reuse them a few times myself.

Where I live, convenience stores are the place to go for many people and when you order a drink (such as a carton of milk), a straw gets handed to you by the cashier. I promptly put the straw back. I don't see why people just don't drink straight from the bottle or carton.
     
P
Moderator
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 12, 2018, 06:31 AM
 
Originally Posted by mindwaves View Post
I do not know why straws and plastic forks and knives aren't recyclable or at least reusable. Besides some people chewing on the straws and cutlery, any reason why they are not reusable, at least for a few times? Drop into some soapy water and a bit of disinfectant and they should be good to go. When I use plastic cutlery on picnics and such, I always reuse them a few times myself.
Mostly because there is no good way to clean them. Metal cutlery, or PET bottles, are cleaned by dousing them with very hot water and washing up fluid. If you do that with the softer plastics used for straws, they will deform. Switching to another plastic - say PET like those bottles - would work to clean them several times, but I expect that there is a cost difference.

You can of course clean them by hand-washing each, but that doesn't scale for large operations.

For straws I imagine that they're harder to clean, so paper straws are probably a better idea.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
mindwaves
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Irvine, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 12, 2018, 07:40 AM
 
Thanks for the explanation. I really hope we can limit the use of plastic. I was once given a package of cookies. They were individually wrapped in plastic complete with their own desiccant silica gel, in their own little plastic tray, and packaged in another larger tray. 12 cookies total. A total waste of plastic.
     
P
Moderator
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 12, 2018, 03:57 PM
 
I honestly think that we need to get over the fact that there are germs in the world. We don’t need to pack every single item in plastic individually, and if paper packaging is a little less anti-bacterial than waxed paper, then... so what? Wash your hands, keep the an outer cover, but don’t isolate every single thing. Eating a single portion airplane meal is so frustrating, it is more packaging than food.
     
Spheric Harlot
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: 888500128, C3, 2nd soft.
Status: Online
Reply With Quote
Jul 12, 2018, 05:58 PM
 
     
Laminar
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Iowa, how long can this be? Does it really ruin the left column spacing?
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 13, 2018, 08:28 AM
 
Alternate title: "Environment News: The Last Straw"
     
andi*pandi  (op)
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: inside 128, north of 90
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 13, 2018, 10:52 AM
 
Spheric, that article was great. Why not go back to straw straws, or paper straws. Plastic straws are wrapped in paper anyhow.
     
Laminar
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Iowa, how long can this be? Does it really ruin the left column spacing?
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 13, 2018, 11:20 AM
 
     
subego
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Chicago, Bang! Bang!
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 13, 2018, 01:05 PM
 
Originally Posted by P View Post
Eating an airplane meal
Well, there’s your problem.
     
Ham Sandwich
Guest
Status:
Reply With Quote
Jul 13, 2018, 01:54 PM
 
[...deleted...]
( Last edited by Ham Sandwich; Apr 23, 2020 at 09:55 AM. )
     
subego
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Chicago, Bang! Bang!
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 13, 2018, 01:58 PM
 
I like to use soap, but that’s just me.
     
The Final Dakar
Games Meister
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Eternity
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 13, 2018, 02:58 PM
 
Originally Posted by Laminar View Post
Alternate title: "Environment News: The Last Straw"
Applause
     
ghporter
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 20, 2018, 09:35 AM
 
I use an Rtic thermal mug at work, with their stainless steel straw. It is easy to clean - the straw came in a 3-pack that included a tiny “bottle brush” for cleaning. The mug gets washed every day with dish soap and warm water, and the straw gets cleaned inside and out the same way.

I reuse the liter bottles that my local grocery chain’s flavored sparkling waters come in. They get washed out regularly too, until I’ve kept them around for a week or so. They get recycled after that.

I can’t help but think that if disposable plastic items were just “properly disposed of,” that would make a large part of the “plastic in the ocean” problem just go away. Of course the definition of “properly” is pretty complex. Ideally every polymer product should be segregated from trash and recycled in one way or another. Very few plastics aren’t somehow recyclable, and those could be used in alternate ways, like fill for geo textile products...

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
sek929
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Cape Cod, MA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 20, 2018, 04:35 PM
 
We've just ordered some SS straws, hopefully they don't go missing at the jobsite.
     
Ham Sandwich
Guest
Status:
Reply With Quote
Jul 20, 2018, 06:49 PM
 
[...deleted...]
( Last edited by Ham Sandwich; Apr 23, 2020 at 09:56 AM. )
     
mindwaves
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Irvine, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 21, 2018, 06:30 PM
 
Originally Posted by And.reg View Post
Marriott will be eliminating straws.

A mildly amusing video, take the commentary with a grain of salt:
http://www.wbaltv.com/article/heres-...traws/22286932
What do hotels do with their small bars of soap? It is impossible to use the entire thing and most hotels give you quite a bit. Very wasteful. I prefer hotels with the pump bottles full of soap.
     
Ham Sandwich
Guest
Status:
Reply With Quote
Jul 22, 2018, 05:42 PM
 
[...deleted...]
( Last edited by Ham Sandwich; Apr 23, 2020 at 09:56 AM. )
     
andi*pandi  (op)
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: inside 128, north of 90
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 22, 2018, 05:43 PM
 
1) guests take soap home (I do sometimes)
2) hotel throws away
3) staff takes home
4) https://cleantheworld.org/get-involv...cling-program/
     
OAW
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: May 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 25, 2018, 01:23 PM
 
Originally Posted by mindwaves View Post
What do hotels do with their small bars of soap? It is impossible to use the entire thing and most hotels give you quite a bit. Very wasteful. I prefer hotels with the pump bottles full of soap.
I routinely take the leftover liquid body wash, lotion, toothpaste, or mouthwash provided by hotels. It's been quite some time that I've actually had to purchase a "travel size" amount for any of these items.

OAW
     
Ham Sandwich
Guest
Status:
Reply With Quote
Jul 25, 2018, 02:05 PM
 
[...deleted...]
( Last edited by Ham Sandwich; Apr 23, 2020 at 09:56 AM. )
     
Ham Sandwich
Guest
Status:
Reply With Quote
Aug 5, 2018, 12:32 PM
 
[...deleted...]
( Last edited by Ham Sandwich; Apr 23, 2020 at 09:56 AM. )
     
el chupacabra
Mac Elite
Join Date: Apr 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Aug 10, 2018, 01:43 PM
 
Crabs arent very common. So looks like we trade 1 environmental problem for another.

Reminds me of how a plant was discovered that produced easily recyclable cardboard material or something. The plant grows great in Madagascar. So Madagascar bulldozed rainforests putting countless species to extiction to make room for the agriculture of this plant. But at least it was in the name of saving the environment. It was great for Madagascar’s exports & economy. We now have easily recyclable packaging that no one bothers to recycle.
     
andi*pandi  (op)
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: inside 128, north of 90
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Aug 10, 2018, 04:15 PM
 
New england is currently being so overrun with foreign green crabs they are trying to create incentives for fishermen to catch them, create a market. Green crabs are eating all the clams we like.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine...AoN/story.html
     
The Final Dakar
Games Meister
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Eternity
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Aug 10, 2018, 04:45 PM
 
I'm guessing they don't taste good enough.
     
andi*pandi  (op)
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: inside 128, north of 90
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Aug 10, 2018, 11:28 PM
 
More like they are too small to bother cracking open. Apparently the broth is tasty.
     
Ham Sandwich
Guest
Status:
Reply With Quote
Sep 1, 2018, 06:29 PM
 
[...deleted...]
( Last edited by Ham Sandwich; Apr 23, 2020 at 09:56 AM. )
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:09 PM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,