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Monday, November 26, 2018

Plastic Straw Ban Crusades Are About Progressive Virtue Signaling, Not Practical Solutions

The anti-straw movement has come to the nation’s capital.

The District of Columbia recently passed legislation that would enforce a ban on plastic straws, among several other similar utensils.

The law is set to take effect on Jan. 1, with enforcement mechanisms—such as hefty fines—being implemented in July. As Tristan Justice reported in The Daily Signal, the ban extends not just to restaurants, but to bars, churches, and day cares as well.

As the anti-straw crusade appears to gain steam, it’s worth stopping for a moment to examine why such a seemingly trivial matter has become such a big deal.

The movement began in earnest in Seattle back in 2008, when it became the first major city to create a plastic straw ban. That ban went into full effect this year, and similar bans have since been popping up across the U.S.

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is the big deal people ? So you don't suck and have to sip ? You don't need all that soda anyway.

bob pinto said...

Discarding straws is a threat.

Discarding used heroin needles not a prob.

Anonymous said...


Show of hands, please. How many of you walk to the edge of the beach and cast your used straw into the sea? Exactly!

Straws with a cover, paper or plastic, provide a safe, convenient, sanitary way to sip or consume your drink. Loose straws are just as handy but their cleanliness is less assured. This holds true whether you're at a table and your drink came in a reusable glass or plastic glass, or if you have a single use cup with or without a lid.

The cleanliness of a reused and dishwashed glass is not assured so the straw provides a health benefit by being what the customers' lips touch. I ran commercial dishwashers while in college, and later managed a number of different restaurants; when operated correctly a sanitary glass comes out but is then moved and touched by staff a number of times before the customer gets it. To-go cups with or without lids provide the same sanitary benefit while enabling sipping while in the car or walking.

Banning straws is an answer in search of a problem, and just more pious virtue signaling. I'm just an interested consumer with a beard who enjoys keeping the contents in the cup and not spilled on me!

Send these wackos out to do something useful; perhaps diapering grizzly bears since we all know what they do in the woods.

Anonymous said...

I recently dined at a restaurant in Berlin, and in my glass of soda was a giant MACARONI NOODLE to drink through. I thought it was a large cardboard straw at first...

Anonymous said...

What was ever wrong with the paper straws we all, 50 and older, used? They worked just fine for the short time they were used to drink your drink, biodegradable and from a renewable/recyclable materials!

Anonymous said...

November 27, 2018 at 5:58 AM:

Oh, I remember, all right. I also remember "drinking" milkshakes with a spoon. Are you too old to remember how a paper straw would collapse when a thick liquid was attempted to be pulled through the paper straw? Paper straws DID NOT work "just fine" for thicker drinks.

Anonymous said...

I am not giving up my straws. Dollars tree sales a huge package for a buck and I am hoarding them. Maybe I can resell later. Just joking.