Discussion: Starbucks To Forgo Plastic Straws By 2020 Over Ocean Threat

By 2020

Why so soon? Take your time.

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Too glad this article doesn’t mention the accessibility issues this presents to the disabled. The alternatives don’t work for everyone or every temperature.

The #strawban hashtag on Twitter has a lot of people with way more info.

Perhaps the disabled should carry their own straws, preferably reusable. Wouldn’t be at all hard, and responsibility for the environment falls on everyone.

Where do you get one to carry around when your municipality/state has banned them?

This movement reads like someone saw an easy nail to hammer without considering the consequences.

Imagine the environmental impact of getting rid of allStarbucks drive-throughs and the running engines in them but no one’s in the mood for that.

[ETA: reusable straws would be nice but there isn’t a functional alternative for everyone yet. It’d be nice if there was a focus on developing them]

I don’t know the ins and outs of the legislation in terms of private medically necessary usage, but I’d be interested to know, and I’m certainly not recommending denial of necessary aids to the disabled. I’d also be interested to know how the legislation treats hospital usage.

But there are washable and reusable polyethylene straws that are bendable. Again, I don’t know the specifics of the legislation. I would say, however, that unless they’re banning bisphenol A and pthalate free food containers (very often polyethylene or polypropylene), they wouldn’t be banning polyethylene straws.

The ban in Seattle, at least, provides two provisions:

  1. It only bans businesses, not individuals.

  2. It allows businesses to provide plastic straws when requested by such an individual.