i was at a bbq party with thin wooden hippie utensils, my fork and knife both cracked in half about 2 minutes into the meal.
AsbestosWhen I was a kid straws were paper. Rarely failed, probably coated in some now banned substance.
This is another example of the insanity sweeping the country thanks to the extreme environmentalists. We use a lot of plastic in larger quantities elsewhere which could be changed before resorting to eliminating plastic straws. Think about the plastic bags used in grocery stores, which replaced paper bags. My wife always requested paper when it was available. Imagine trying to drink a Frappuccino through a paper straw. You'd get a hernia when it collapsed! I just wish the government would get out of my life.
Those lids must use a lot less plastic than a straw.Coming to a Starbucks near you.
The only way to change or control how people behave is through taxation. I would not mind paying lower taxes if compensated by the convenience of others. Worked to slow the expansion of tobacco use. In my youth a pack of fangs was a quarter at vending machines in every store. Now I guess they are approaching $5 and you have to show ID to get them from a locked cabinet. $3 tax per straw would go a long way in raising funds to clean up the convenience mess being made.
Yup, and there it is--the government putting their hand out to "help" the environment. Chances that the "tax" money will actually go to help the problem? Highly unlikely.
One example: Massachusetts Cigarette Taxes Raise Millions But Not For Anti-Smoking Programs
And the other part that should be a red flag "...control how people behave", governments certainly like doing that.
The stupid iced coffee already costs me $3.50, which is ridiculous. It should include the cost of a plastic straw.
A couple of towns here in the Commiewealth of Massachusetts have a 5 cent per plastic bag "tax". I was shopping at Whole Foods, which is already expensive, and complained about this surcharge on top of the already high prices, and said "of course the People's Republic of Cambridge wants their 5 cents per bag.." at which point the clerk told me that the money didn't go to the town, it got donated to various charities per WF discretion. So, purely punitive.
Thus, if people wonder why there is some pushback on "environmental regulations", or issues related to "climate change", which, at face value are worthy ideals. But, due to human frailty are morphed into onerous tar babies of tyranny and just another way to extort money out of the masses.
I went for a hot coffee this morning. Came with a plastic lid.
"Government" has been shaping and controlling people ever since they decided that more than 1 person could live in a single cave.
Nothing "new" here.
If you want to save money on coffee use a coffee pot instead of the drive through. The vast majority of the cost of your $3.50 cup of coffee isn't the 0.07 cents the coffee cost them. It's the $5,000 a day it cost to stay open so you can drive through.
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In the 80s, it was all about using plastic to "save a tree" and "save the spotted owl". It was also "global cooling" and the coming ice age. What's the 2020s going to bring?
The thread needs toons!