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Politicizing straws

I believe most plastic grocery bags are now made from the thin, faster degrading plastic. And there is an argument that paper bags have equal too or worse environmental impact. Education on using reusable bags at the grocery store is what needs to be done on that front.

Shop once per week and have been using the same two cardboard boxes for five years to bring the groceries home.

Estimate I prevented using six plastic bags per week for a total of 6,000 over the past five years.

Also wash the wife's plastic straw after each use. Have yet to tell her about this.

Drink my beer out of my favorite beer glass and recycle the aluminum cans for cash. Neighbors contribute their cans to my "retirement fund". Recycle operation sees me coming and allows me to use their commercial recycle high volume equipment. Tell my relatives about this, and they think I'm joking.
 
Shop once per week and have been using the same two cardboard boxes for five years to bring the groceries home.

Estimate I prevented using six plastic bags per week for a total of 6,000 over the past five years.

Also wash the wife's plastic straw after each use. Have yet to tell her about this.

Drink my beer out of my favorite beer glass and recycle the aluminum cans for cash. Neighbors contribute their cans to my "retirement fund". Recycle operation sees me coming and allows me to use their commercial recycle high volume equipment. Tell my relatives about this, and they think I'm joking.
If I ran a grocery store/chain I would just stop offering bags altogether. Only bag available are reusable ones for sale. And before anyone scoffs, think Aldi and Costco. Both are two of the fastest growing grocery chains and both high very high favoribility ratings from their customers. Neither offer plastic or paper bags(Aldi does sell paper bags).
 
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If I ran a grocery store/chain I would just stop offering bags altogether. Only bag available are reusable ones for sale. And before anyone scoffs, think Aldi and Costco. Both are two of the fastest growing grocery chains and both high very high favoribility ratings from their customers. Neither offer plastic or paper bags(Aldi does sell paper bags).
I’d just crawl into the fetal position in the parking lot and wait for the sweet relief of death. ALDIs is one of the most horrible places I’ve ever been
 
I’d just crawl into the fetal position in the parking lot and wait for the sweet relief of death. ALDIs is one of the most horrible places I’ve ever been
You need to go mid day during the week. There and Target are MILF/Cougar Central.

Also nothing is worse that Costco on the weekend. Might as well just play Russian roulette at home. Same level of anxiety.
 
But did you know the straw was originally designed / invented for beer?
Because the beer was made in huge vats and you could drink directly from the vat, sunk into the dirt floor, with a super-long straw made from wood (or gold, if you were royalty).

~3000 BC

One added benefit is that you could stick your straw deeper into the vat and avoid consuming the collection of dead insects that were typically floating on top.
 
is that you're suggesting the people who are made to endure the effects of these changes should just shut up and accept them....whether they like it or not.
That used to be the attitude of smokers towards people who didn't smoke..

Paper straws generally suck as an alternative. Easier solution might be getting people out of the habit of using straws at restaurants.
I really don't like straws. I'd rather just drink directly from the container. The problem now days is the make it difficult to recycle. There will be a few people who ruin every attempt to do something good. Personally, I know two places not too far from us that had recycling bins but of course people started dropping off their trash (mattresses, etc) and they just did away with them. If you get a trash collector to pick it up then you have to pay.
 
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Plastic straws are terrible for the environment and paper straws are just fine for anything. But a smoothie.

These are the same idiots that politicized vaccines.
 
I think you're way over-complicating things.

Some people think straws are unnecessary waste and want to reduce plastic waste because it harms the environment.

Others disagree either because they don't think straws/plastic wastes matters to the environment or just don't want to go with anything that inconveniences them.

Paper straws generally suck as an alternative. Easier solution might be getting people out of the habit of using straws at restaurants.
I buy paper straws at the grocery and they are just fine for anything but a smoothie.

Some people will
Politicize anything
 
That used to be the attitude of smokers towards people who didn't smoke..

And what always seemed obvious to me is that smoking policies shouldn't be left up to the smoker, the non-smoker, or the government trying to intervene between the two. It should be left up to property owners.

I always hated being in restaurants that had smoking. Bars too, although it was more expected there. I'm glad that doesn't happen much anymore. But it's really not the government's business.

They can say that it's about the health of other patrons or employees. But they're all presumably adult enough to make their own choice on that.
 
Plastic straws are terrible for the environment and paper straws are just fine for anything. But a smoothie.

These are the same idiots that politicized vaccines.
Some people will
Politicize anything

Hold on, wait a minute here.

When you say "plastic straws are terrible for the environment and paper straws are just fine for anything", what are you getting at? I get the you buy paper straws for yourself...which is fine, of course. But what is your position on other people buying (and selling) plastic ones?
 
Hold on, wait a minute here.

When you say "plastic straws are terrible for the environment and paper straws are just fine for anything", what are you getting at? I get the you buy paper straws for yourself...which is fine, of course. But what is your position on other people buying (and selling) plastic ones?
capitalist here who believes you and I are free to buy or sell whatever is legal.

I wish people would move away from plastic straws (actually many things that are plastic and single use)

Politicizing straws is so ****ing dumb though.

but I thought my post was clear.
 
capitalist here who believes you and I are free to buy or sell whatever is legal.

I wish people would move away from plastic straws (actually many things that are plastic and single use)

Politicizing straws is so ****ing dumb though.

but I thought my post was clear.
Not really. When people say something is bad for the environment, they often believe that sales should thus be restricted or outright prohibited (which, naturally, politicizes that thing).

Choosing to buy/sell X yourself or wishing that other people would buy/sell X is fine. But a line is crossed when that becomes advocacy for restricting others from buying/selling X.

I was just making sure.
 
Choosing to buy/sell X yourself or wishing that other people would buy/sell X is fine. But a line is crossed when that becomes advocacy for restricting others from buying/selling X.

Cigarettes used to be in vending machines and over the counter with no age restrictions. In the 70s! Then we prohibited anyone under 18 from buying them, and anyone over 18 to read stark warning labels. For sound reasons.

Cocaine and heroin used to be legal, but then we prohibited EVERYONE from buying them. For sound reasons.

Lots of other examples. When there is a benefit, and costs-to-benefit analysis is sound, you implement restrictions.
 
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