People often talk about swapping out plastic straws for other materials to help the ocean/fish and the environment, but they also complain about paper straws falling apart easily. Other alternatives that are slightly more sturdy like straws made of straw don’t seem very common.

But do we even need straws? My first reaction was that any liquid can be drunk directly from the vessel it’s in, and straws just add another level of convenience. If we don’t want to use plastic straws and the alternatives mostly suck (actually all straws suck 🤓), why not just ditch straws entirely?

  • navordar@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    There are people who have disabilities that prevent or make it hard to drink without a straw, for example, they have shaky hands and would spill their drink otherwise.

      • GentlemanLoser@ttrpg.network
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        1 year ago

        This is how we end up paying for straws as medical devices. As soon as you make it a niche item the people who really need it are screwed

        • wahming@monyet.cc
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          1 year ago

          It’s a simple metal tube (reusable). Just because it’s niche doesn’t mean it’ll cost a bomb.

          • DarkFox@pawb.social
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            1 year ago

            A lot of disabled people who need straws have difficulties controlling their muscles, so a metal straw is a good way to break their teeth, the same goes for wood and other hard straws. Paper straws are also unusable for them, as they break too quickly, and silicone straws are too floppy. Plastic straws really are the only suitable option for them.

              • DarkFox@pawb.social
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                1 year ago

                That’s awesome!

                BTW, just to make it clear; I’m not saying “Yay plastic, plastic is the only way!”. I am saying that the current alternatives aren’t suitable for all cases.

                Personally, as a (mostly) able-bodied person, I carry reusable silicone straws with me.

          • GentlemanLoser@ttrpg.network
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            1 year ago

            It will in the USA once insurance companies classify it as a medical device and doctors offices start billing them $500 for a straw they’ll negotiate down to $200 and now we’re paying $40 per straw after insurance

            • Spiracle@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              That is unrelated to normal straw usage, though. They can at any time declare that they need “medical straws”, define that only certified companies can provide them, and then demand hundreds of Dollars for them. I would not be surprised if this was already happening somewhere.

    • Iunnrais@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I want to add that the convenience factor they give to non-disabled people really helps the life-necessity factor for disabled people. Economy of scale helps a lot. Someone who needs straws to live can go to any grocery or convenience store and buy dozens or hundreds of the things for dirt cheap because the disabled people aren’t the only ones buying them, and that’s a good thing.

    • OwlPaste@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Or after you go to the dentist yourself! Granted you can likely survive without drinking room temperature anything because your gums/terth are sore for a bit, but disabled people cannot.