Researchers found low concentrations of so-called forever chemicals in various “eco-friendly” straws, raising doubts about whether they’re an appropriate alternative.
Disposable products are gonna have problems to keep them cheap. The solution to straws is non-dispossble straws, always was.
Also this is still a silly topic, straws won’t save the planet.
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No but the plastic ones actually did harm the plant.
Yes, but some people actually depend on them to live, and considering jut how little of the plastics they made up, the crusade to get rid of them is nothing but a superficial feel good endeavour that has absolutely zero impact on the crisis we face, and just leaves disabled people lacking access to a literal life line.
We really need to change the way that consumers consume things. People need to stop acting entitled to everything they want immediately and with every convenience available.
Maybe people should start travelling around with their own straws. Have a craving for an iced coffee?? Well either bring your own metal/silicone reusable straw or deal with drinking straight from the cup. Be responsible and stop expecting corporations and government to solve every issue and maintain the lifestyle we have had the past few decades.
Things need to change in order for the world to get better, and maintaining the same level of convenience and consumption is unfortunately not something that we can afford.
Single use bendy straws were literally invented to help keep bedbound and other disabled people alive. There are also many reasons people can’t use different alternatives.
You personally not using something, doesn’t mean others don’t, and to deny access to a literal lifeline for the sake of 0.003% of the plastics in the ocean (literally a drop in an ocean) because it makes you feel better and requires zero effort or sacrifice (from you), instead of actually acting to resolve the problem (like being anti-capitalist rather than just trying to apply band aids to its symptoms) is not only gross and ableist, but also a colossal counterproductive waste of time.
Yeah nah. Non disposable straws are just going to become disposable straws that take up more material and are more expensive. Just like the “reusable” plastic bags they use at the grocery store now.
Maybe but a metal or glass straw that got disposed has a very different impact on the environment than a plastic one…
No comment on the level of PFAS aside from
though the levels were low
This is just feeding the outrage machine to get clicks. If it was a story they’d be citing concentration guidelines and telling you what concentrations were found in the products. It’s not a story, it’s rage bait.
I agree 99%. The 1% left is that, honestly, it is shitty that they contain any kind of PFAS to begin with. If PFAS in any kind of concentration are part of the production process, then it just isn’t sustainable in the long run.
But the question is why do we need straws at all. I doubt that back in 1970 anyone would drink a latte macchiato with a straw. I found it strange just 15 years ago. If you fancy straws, you can get one high quality reusable one (steel, bamboo whatever) and carry it with you - I find this proposition much less offensive then expecting me to always carry a huge reusable cup with me. And for the most part you can consume drinks without a straw.
Now, there is people who have disabilities that require them to use a straw. For them, have some in store as a vendor, and hand them out if requested.
It really depends on the levels, they are called forever chemicals because they last forever. In many cities you can detect cocaine in drinking water…
But then it doesn’t depend on the level actually. If something toxic has a half life of a billion years then it shouldn’t be used in production, no matter in what amount/at what levels. Cocaine will degrade at some point and also not stay in your system forever so I would argue that there can be a safe level of cocaine in drinking water. (I mean it still shouldn’t be there, but it doesn’t cause trouble on the grander scheme of things.)
How’s cocaine got in your comment?
(using secretive slightly agitated conspiracy voice) That’s how they getcha man… Cocaine in the water man… it’s in there on purpose… they get you hooked on the coke and to get it you keep drinking the water to get mooooore! EVERYONE THAT EVER DRANK WATER HAS DIED AT SOME POINT??? (walks away mumbling about tin foil hats and mind control)
Agreed. If it was “intentionally added” PFAS, it would say that, and that might be a big deal. I read through the article and didn’t see that. Just speculation that it might be. PFAS is everywhere.
Strongly recommend hay straws (like, made of “straw”).
They’re better than paper in that they don’t sog up. They’re inconsistent in size but that has never bothered me. A little flimsy, but I stir iced drinks with them all the time.
Or just drink from the cup?
Or steel straws. I’ve been using those for about 5 years now
I had metal straws but I switched to glass because I can see if they’re clean easily and they feel better imo.
Can’t use those with toddlers
I can’t do metal, I HATE the feeling of metal on my teeth. There are ones with silicon nubs on the end, but then that’s more plastic…
Teeth? You are using straws wrong. They are supposed to only touch your lips
You’ve NEVER hit your teeth by mistake with a straw or fork or something?
Of course not never, but not often enough to even recall once really.
It sounded like you are chewing on straws or so. Sorry for the misunderstanding!
I believe silicone is its own natural material, not plastic
Petty sure its made from oil same as plastic, resin, etc.
It’s made out of the element, silicon, hence the name.
I use a metal straw with a silicon bendy bit on the end, and it’s not like I throw away the bendy part.
My wife’s best mate used them too, until she slipped at home while drinking from one and lost an eye.
Doesn’t work well for thicker beverages like milkshakes or iced coffee’s. But for most drinks i agree no straw is best.
What do you mean you can’t drink ice coffee without a straw?
The best milkshakes I’ve had didn’t use straws – too thick.
That’s called ice cream
I do that too. There are plenty of subthreads going arguing straw-use is an accessibility issue, but in my case, I just want them for specific drinks – mostly cocktails.
The head on a Ramos Gin Fizz practically requires a straw to enjoy. Especially as someone with a mustache.
Yeah!!! Straws suck!
I’ve had similar, but they smelled like… hay.
Do these have any smell?
They don’t have any taste even if you chew on them a bit. The box does have a slight shrub odor, but it doesn’t seem to be present when using them.
Holy shit why didn’t anyone think of this before lol
Well straw can easily split. Don’t know how I feel like spending $5 on grass. 🙄
Also sugar cane straws
Do we really need more sugar? We already have too much sugar in our diets. Why make straws into sugar too?
They make the straw from parts of the sugar cane plant that don’t contain sugar. (After using the other parts to make sugar.)
Correct :)
It’s basically made of wood pulp.
I do love people’s knee jerk reaction at the word “sugar”. I don’t think they’ve ever seen a sugar cane, they’re probably imagining this:
Sugar cane, silly, not candy cane :)
It’s wood pulp, there is almost zero sugar in a sugar cane once they’re done extracting the cane sugar out of it, which is when it can be re-used to do other things.
It’s made of bagasse (sugarcane fibers, basically wood pulp) and binders like PLA and is entirely compostable.
I figured it was made from the sugar from sugar cane, but it seems that it is just the cane from the sugar cane. I have seen sugar straws, so my bad.
I’ma eat it anyway
I agree
Once in a restaurant I got some longe macaroni pasta as a straw and I still think this was genius.
Unless you have a gluten allergy, or need to drink something hot.
skill issue
To the gluten allergy or shotgunning scalding hot liquids?
Gluten free pasta exists
If I’m not mistaken, manufacturing facilities spray PFAS agents on various conveyor parts to prevent pulp from sticking to them and therefore require stoppage and cleaning. In other words, PFAS reduce the time and money spent on cleaning manufacturing equipment. Congratulations shareholders!
I’m glad someone is thinking of the shareholders. It’s about time we focus on them and not such pesky abstractions like “the environment” or “the future”
/s
It’s all about doing the least while charging the most.
We have a couple metal straws and washable plastic ones. The metal ones probably have lead and the plastic ones are made of baby kittens.
We’ve got a bunch of glass ones. Probably has puppies in it or something.
Yeah but those are crack pipes so naturally you’re less picky.
Oooh, is that why there were little roses in them?
The plastic ones will be leaching pthalates, microplastics and PFAS into whatever you’re drinking.
But then that’s true of any plastic you’re eating or drinking from so… cool cool cool.
But man, you can really taste the kitten
“All the straw manufacturers should take warning and say, ‘Hey, do we use this stuff?’ Because at the moment, they’re not even asking that question,”
That is kind of concerning!It’s sad that we’re making a big damn deal out of - straws. I don’t drink anything out with straws and the only times I do is if I’m at a restaurant and they use plastic.
Yeah, it sucks that straws somehow became the poster child for saving the world. It’s nowhere near our main problem, even with sea plastic (that would be discarded fishing nets) but if we can masochistically try to suck a milkshake through a collapsing, leaking, sticking to my lips, paper straw then I must be doing something good, right…?
This and plastic shopping bags are the perfect poster children - they inconvenience consumers and not shareholders. Look at your average shopping cart and tell me how much plastic is in it. Did we ever address that, or was it totally ignored for the tiny fraction of that plastic that constitutes disposable bags? Disposble bags that have now been replaced by other bags that are dubiously better that we have to buy, and whose normal reuse-case is now other thin plastic bags that we have to also buy.
Meanwhile the enormous amount of packing plastic that is already in the shopping cart before you bag anything is left alone, because presumably doing anything about that would change supply lines, and that would cost money for shareholders. Can’t have that.
Also if you’ve got a straw you almost certainly have a plastic lid that has more plastic in it than the straw did but there isn’t an easy way to fix that. It’s an incredibly thin and meaningless cover for the real problems.
Throwaway plastics are mostly banned in Europe.
PFAS is everywhere at this point. Unfortunately they’re reeeeeally good at what they’re designed for and they’re cheap. We’ll need viable alternatives so they can be phased out. I think they should be banned from products that don’t really need them like dental floss and hopefully we come up with an enzyme or something that can cheaply break it down in the environment.
Side note, there has been at least one study that shows that donating blood regularly can reduce the amount of PFAS in your blood. This doesn’t solve the problem of the stuff being everywhere but it’s good to know you can remove it from your body over time.
Donating plasma is particularly good at reducing your blood PFAS, and they pay you for donating plasma in lots of places in the US
Yep, I think you can donate plasma more often as well. Oneblood will give you giftcards and swag for whole blood, not nearly as good a payout as plasma but it’s also like 15 minutes where my experience with plasma was a couple hours, they did set me up with netflix during the process so I think it’s worth the extra bit of time.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Scientists in Belgium recently tested dozens of straws from supermarkets, retail stores and fast-food restaurants in the country, and found that the majority contained PFAS — a family of synthetic chemicals used in the manufacture of consumer products because they can resist stains, grease and water.
Thimo Groffen, an author of the new study and environmental scientist at the University of Antwerp, said it’s not clear whether the manufacturers of the straws he analyzed are intentionally adding PFAS as a waterproof coating.
Graham Peaslee, who studies PFAS at the University of Notre Dame and was not involved in the new research, said it’s possible manufacturers aren’t testing for the chemicals in their own products.
Keith Vorst, director of the Polymer and Food Protection Consortium at Iowa State University, said some of the straws in the study exceeded the proposed EPA concentrations for water.
Various states, including California, Colorado, New York and Oregon, have banned plastic straws from food establishments in the last five years, and chains like Starbucks have phased them out.
The main reason is that the straws generally can’t be recycled, so they wind up in landfills, get burned in incinerators or become litter that contaminates oceans, rivers, lakes and streams.
The original article contains 958 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
sigh We can’t do anything right, can we?
I don’t fuck with ANY straw that ain’t metal
I’d suggest not fucking with anything that lacks a flared base.
Okay, but what kind of straws do you drink with?
… metal ones?
They may not be safe
The researchers sampled 39 brands of straws made of paper, bamboo, glass, stainless steel and plastic. Of those, 27 were found to contain PFAS, though the concentrations were low.
Read the entire thing:
Of the straws tested in the study, those made of paper were the most likely to contain PFAS: The chemicals were detected in 18 out of 20 brands. Four out of five bamboo straws sampled contained PFAS, compared to three out of four plastic straws and two out of five glass straws. All five stainless steel straws analyzed were PFAS-free.
I use glass ones personally - tried plastic ones but kept biting them 🤦♂️.
Have you had any issues with rust on your straws? I’ve noticed some stainless steel stuff goes rusty if it’s been left on some other wet steel item for a while, although I have no idea why that happens
Drink directly from the glass.
Single use bendy straws were literally invented to help keep bedbound and other disabled people alive. There are also many reasons people can’t use different alternatives.
You personally not using something, doesn’t mean others don’t, and to deny access to a literal lifeline for the sake of 0.003% of the plastics in the ocean (literally a drop in an ocean) because it makes you feel better and requires zero effort or sacrifice (from you), instead of actually acting to resolve the problem (like being anti-capitalist rather than just trying to apply band aids to its symptoms) is not only gross and ableist, but also a colossal counterproductive waste of time.
It’s possible that we could reduce regular use, yet allow those with accibility issues to continue to use the alternative. This can work in tandem to help address the real problem accumulation of single use plastics. Not using a straw is a valid solution for the majority of use cases.
God i love my glass straws
Aww what a surprise… not
When the craze first started I remember seeing paper straws in plastic. Someone was close but didnt quite get it.
You do know that thin film clear “plastic” isn’t actually plastic right? Most of that is cellophane, which is made from plants and is biodegradable.
That’s why I used the word plastic and not “cellophane.” There were and still are companies that use non-biodegradable, non-plant based plastics to package their paper straws. But thank you…? I know you were going for a big internet gotcha moment there.
