[tcbawo]

Single use plastics are convenient, are 99% of the problem, and could be phased out feasibly. Perfect is the enemy is good. Not pointing fingers at anyone in particular, but people arguing with absolutism on plastics is a dead end.

[jfkfkdkf]

Never going to happen. People already hate paper straws. No one is going to look at the current replacements and say "Yeah life was better after that" besides activists.

[ChArkingTurtLe]

Do they really hate them or do they just complain about them like some bad season of some series they will continue to watch anyway?

Life is better without plastic straws and plastic plates and plastic knifes and so on ... and people who don't care usually care but the brain structure to admit that is premature.

[maeil]

In the same vein, no one hates them unless they didn't grow up with them. If you'd have grown up with glass straws, you'd love glass straws, especially if you'd been brought up being taught about the harms of single use plastics.

99% of these things are entirely cultural and habitual.

[AngryData]

I doubt that anyone would prefer a glass or any other hard material straw, straws made out of hard materials are just bad. And I say that as someone who was very enthusiastic about getting steel straws until about the forth or fifth time I nearly broke a tooth on them.

[Klonoar]

You could, alternatively… just not bite down on steel.

Straws are just another utensil, I agree with OP that we could largely make do with alternate materials for them.

[AngryData]

Im not biting down on straws, when putting it into your mouth you aren't holding a straw with multiple fingers like a utensil and it can tap into teeth with the entire weight of the glass and drink behind it because it is not really secured well and it moves. A plastic or paper or silicon or even a bamboo straw its not such a problem because teeth are harder and dig into or bend the material. Glass and steel don't do that and are the equivalent of tapping a tooth with a tiny hammer.

Glass and steel straws sound nice on paper, but using them is a whole different ball game.

[someotherperson]

Maybe if the straws weren’t laced with PFAS they’d get a better reception.

[bennythomsson]

Propaganda will always be a problem. But progress is possible.

Nobody will really miss single apples wrapped in plastic in the store.

[defrost]

I live in a first world G20 country with a greater life expectancy than the US.

In 60 years I don't recall ever seeing a single apple wrapped in plastic in a store.

I have seen a plastic bag of apples pre selected weighed and ready to be grabbed .. but most apples are loose and you bag them yourself picking as many of the ones you want individually.

[ChArkingTurtLe]

not wrapped in plastic but sprayed with "stuff".

"how many apples are thrown away" is not just a question of personal responsibility and brains but how the public was "raised" over generations of mass production and cheap methods.

"even" in Germany ( I don't know why I keep saying this ), and in upper class super markets, fresh produce rots much quicker than anything we produce in our gardens. mid-priced frozen stuff triggers unhealthy/gassy reactions in stomach and guts that are not triggered by higher-priced frozen stuff but again, the crowd doesn't care because it was raised that way or does not know.

cheap liquor produce triggers worse reactions in body and brain, short-, mid- and long-term because the production methods are not as clean because producers are OK with the negative outcomes because they were raised to believe that their customers are "fucking stupid".

[bennythomsson]

I understand much of your rambling, but the wax that's sprayed on apples isn't an issue. To the contrary, it increases the shelf life of them, reducing waste. And it's not dangerous either, so pouncing on that particular detail isn't furthering your cause..

https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/you-asked/why-do-they-spra...

[bennythomsson]

If your country can do it, then the US also can!

[dahart]

Straws aren’t the big problem, single-use bottles are.