Trump’s attack on paper straws is mostly symbolic — but the plastics industry is celebrating
Trump’s attack on paper straws is mostly symbolic — but the plastics industry is celebrating
Trade groups are seizing the moment to call for fewer restrictions on plastics.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week to end the federal procurement of paper straws.
The order, which claims that paper straws are “nonfunctional” and says it wants to end the “forced use” of them, immediately undoes part of a Biden-era initiative to eliminate single-use plastics, including straws, in all government operations by 2035. More broadly, Trump instructed White House staff and “relevant agencies” to issue a “national strategy to end the use of paper straws” within 45 days. The strategy would aim to eliminate all executive branch policies “designed to disfavor plastic straws” and address the federal government’s contracts with states and and other entities “that ban or penalize plastic straw purchase or use.”
Symbolism was the point of the paper straw thing to begin with. We won't see a reduction in single-use plastics until we get rid of the entire mindset of convenience culture. Plastics make it possible get the exact flavor of corn chips you like from gas station a state away from where you live at 2am. Plastics mean that flavor that only 2% of that local population like or would ever buy can wait on that shelf for 3 months until you're craving it on a road trip. That entire way of thinking would have to be dismantled, and they need to fight us on this one little symbol to keep us from having that discussion.
Also to add: there are a bunch of applications we should be using plastics for. It's a great material with some very unique properties that make it indispensable for certain applications. A great example a lot of people use actually specifically on the topic of straws is people with reduced mobility. Plastic bendable straws can give them a lot of independence in the process of feeding themselves and staying hydrated. Personally in my nursing practice, I specialize in the management of patients at high risk of violent behavior, and every time I show up to a code on another floor one of the first things I check for is that the patient's meals are getting served on a "safety tray" which is where everything is made of flimsy plastic and Styrofoam so they can't stab their care staff, wallop them over the head with the tray, or use the bowls as projectile weapons. Plastics are actually super handy, but getting rid of convenience culture would allow us to reserve them for the things they're actually needed for.
And the flavor selection in this country is still terrible. Waxed paper bags it is, then. I will also happily bring my own cloth sacks to the supermarket to refill my dry goods.
People used to just drink out of real cups at home and eating out. Most didn't have to constantly carry a drink around in public.. what cavemen!
I feel the need for straws is only because there is too much darn ice in every drink by default when you're out. People don't use ice that much at home, do they? I hate watered down drinks, so I'm a no-icer to begin with, but I rarely notice others using ice so ubiquitously outside of restaurants or convenience stores.
This seemed pointless and petty, but of course. It’s a handout to the plastic industry. Complete with the usual Trump exaggeration bullshit, saying that paper straws instantly disintegrate.
I honestly dont really like paper straws, I never got why metal or wood (ie. reusable) straws aren’t more common.
Not that I even need straws for most things. Most straws given out are mostly unnecessary.
Bamboo straws are a thing IIRC. One problem I have with metal straws is that they apparently can impale your skull, so drinking with a metal straw while walking might not be the best idea. I also discovered last summer that you can use chives as straws since they're hollow inside, but that affects the taste of course.
But yeah, in most situations straws are really unneccessary and a waste of material.
It's kind of funny that we literally grow straws and just don't use them. Wheat straw is a biodegradable alternative that doesn't disintegrate and is often just left in the field after harvest. It might not work for thicker beverages like milkshakes or smoothies, but works great for everything else.
Loblaws (Canadian grocery overlords) sells some.
The attack on single use straws was entirely symbolic (end completely useless) in the first place, and harmful for disabled people.
The problem was never straws, it was, and is, capitalism.
Focus on that, don't get drawn in to the superficial virtue signalling divisive and harmful distractions.
It's a smaller battle, part of the larger war on plastic.
I see trash these days, and I can ignore much more of it because its biodegradable.
I'm picking up shit less. I see this as a win.
And the disabled people who have lost access don't.
For the sake of an item that constituted 0.003% of ocean plastics, and giving you a "win" you're further supporting the exclusion and marginalisation of disabled people.
Banning plastic straws did less than nothing to improve the environment (less than, because it made people like you think they've done their part, and focus less on the actual problem), and worse, it sprung up an entire multi billion dollar industry that makes and sells reusable straws that end up in landfill just as often, and will be staying there for significantly longer.
You getting a dopamine hit doesn't make something good or right.
The thing though is they replaced polluting single use straws with less polluting single use straws.
If they actually wanted to do something useful it would have been nice to have multi-use straws ie. metal/wood/or even hardened plastic.
But I guess that wouldn’t be as suitable a source of income, and wouldn’t fit well with american consumerism and fast food culture, so here we are debating on the best type of single use straws.
As you said, the base problem comes from capitalism.
The thing though is they replaced polluting single use straws with less polluting single use straws.
Single use straws only ever constituted 0.003% of ocean plastics, they were already less polluting than pretty much any other plastic in use today, and the alternatives are not suitable for many disabled people for many different reasons. The ban also removed accessibility, and put the burden on disabled people (and on retail staff to gatekeep us, which more often than not resulted in service being denied).
If they actually wanted to do something useful it would have been nice to have multi-use straws ie. metal/wood/or even hardened plastic. But I guess that wouldn’t be as suitable a source of income, and wouldn’t fit well with american consumerism and fast food culture, so here we are debating on the best type of single use straws.
They did, they literally created an entire multi billion dollar industry to make money off of the problem they created, and the virtue signalers flocked to buy reusable straws, which again, are not suitable for many disabled people who depend on single use bendy straws for literal survival.
As you said, the base problem comes from capitalism.
It is, stop getting distracted by the bullshit capitalists tell you so that they can sell you more shit.
It's a false choice. Metal straws are ideal, but cellulose straws are still better than both paper and plastic.