alt Hacker News> Everybody makes fun of paper straws.
Yeah, because they suck. Uh, pun not intended. Paper straws get somewhat soggy and feel bad in your mouth. They are inferior to the plastic straws they purport to replace, so people resist them as much as they can.
If you want to actually make a difference with an environmental effort, you need to make something superior. Nobody makes fun of LED light bulbs because (up front cost aside) they are wildly superior to incandescent. People actually like having LED bulbs and seek them out. The same cannot be said, and likely never will be said, of paper straws.
Replies
paper straws do not make any sense any way you look at it. Are we saying that we are okay to cut trees to make straws when we could make them out of petroleum ?
Moreover, paper straws are not even recyclable due to water content which makes them soggy. Plastic ones are almost 100% recyclable
Most importantly, unlike plastic straws, they are laced with glue and other chemicals which gets ingested.
> Nobody makes fun of LED light bulbs because (up front cost aside) they are wildly superior to incandescent.
There's burgeoning movement called "PWM sensitive"[1] that's opposed to (cheap) LED lights.
I'm convinced paper straws are a psy-op by the plastics industry to make us hate environmentalists.
> Nobody makes fun of LED light bulbs because (up front cost aside) they are wildly superior to incandescent
There was huge resistance to wiping out the inefficient bulbs in the UK. Many many people stockpiled them.
Good that they suck, people might realize that they may as well refuse the straw, drink from the glass and that their life is exactly as comfortable as before the ban.
I don't understand the moaning and bellyaching about straws. Are people that bad at drinking from cups? If you aren't a toddler or bed-ridden patient in a hospital (EDIT: or anyone else with physical conditions that necessitate a straw) you should be able to drink without a straw.
Most paper straws use PFAS, meaning we’re actively composting PFAS in a fantasy effort to feel good about our waste without actually giving anything up
https://fortune.com/well/2023/08/24/paper-straws-harmful-for...