Update. I bought glass straws so I can drink #coffee again. About to have my first sip after a week long detox 😁

@Gina Why do you need a straw to drink coffee, let alone a glass one ?

@freemo Because I just did a week of teeth whitening. Don't want to stain them again. Also I'm not sure if paper or plastic straws are good in hot coffee.

Even though this will still stain the back of my teeth. Worth it.

@Gina plastic is probably fine in coffee, but yea that makes sense :)

@freemo Plus, these are infinitely reusable as well.

@Gina That is true, but plastics are weird in that they are a secondary product. So by not buying it you dont really reduce the rate they are produced. Even if no one bought plastic the plastic would still be produced and just thrown away never seeing use since its a byproduct of other primary processes.

@freemo Ah crap :(

@Gina @freemo
I applaud you for using glass straws. 👍
We should reduce the production of plastics (drastically) and a great way to do that is decreasing the demand.

https://x0f.org/@FreePietje/108398848090304179

@FreePietje

The problem is since plastic is a secondary product off nonrenewable sources (natural gas and gasoline) you have no impact on reducing production by reducing consumption of plastics directly. You'd have to stop the production of gasoline and natural gas to have that outcome.

@Gina

@freemo
I only know that plastics are made from oil. But I have a hard time believing that it would have *no* impact (at all).

Plastic production is still production with its own emissions (f.e.) and the result, plastic, is FAR more harmful then most people (seem to) realize.
It's really bad for the environment and affects/infects the whole food chain and thereby also ends up in human bodies.

Also, I'm fine with keeping (more) fossil fuels in the ground ;-)

@Gina

@FreePietje

If no one bought any plastic at all then you'd have a plastic-like liquid waste that would come from gas refineries and similar sources. This slurry would have all the harm of plastic and just skip the consumer and go straight to the dump.

This, I'd argue, is in fact **worse** than people not buying the plastic at all since the overall volume of waste is the same regardless. The difference is that if people dont buy the plastic (which at least for a time keeps it out of the trash) then other products need to be produced to fill that need as well. So take plastic straws being replaced with glass ones, you have the same plastic waste being produced by buying a glass straw, but now you have the additional burden of a glass straw being produced on top of that.

@Gina

@freemo @Gina @FreePietje Easy. Buy less plastic and buy less gasoline.

For the situations where we cannot avoid liquid fuel, like airliners, people are working on other sources than fossil fuel.

@clacke

Actually just buy less gasoline and non-renewable fuels, the production of plastic will automatically reduce regardless of its demand (the cost to make it as a primary product would be prohibitive and it just wont be made even if there is demand since the price would be enormous).

@FreePietje @Gina

@freemo Either way it's money into the same machine. Buy less of one, the other gets more expensive.

I agree with @FreePietje ; If you are correct about plastic being the inevitable side-product, a big solid block of plastic in the landfill must be better than a thousand little trinkets, packagings, device parts etc sent all over the world.

There's also the further energy use and pollution from turning it into the many different consumer-grade types of plastic.

@FreePietje @Gina

@clacke

I'd argue the money into the machine isnt as important as the pollutants and where they go.

The plastic slurry is liquid not solid usually (large/heavy alkanes and related chemicals). I do agree that if look in isolation it is better to throw that directly into the ground and regulate its disposal better. The problem is, as I stated, your offsetting that by now **also** replacing all the products made of plastic with things made from wood, glass, or metal which all have their own economic and enviromental costs with it as well.

@FreePietje @Gina

@freemo @clacke

As @Gina already said, the glass straw can be used again and again.

And when the time comes to replace it, glass *can* be recycled, which is ~ impossible with plastics as described by the (indirect) link I shared in my initial response.

@FreePietje

Doesnt change my point.. the plastic waste is created regardless. Adding on top of that another thing that needs to be produced to replace it, no matter how renewable, doesnt change the fact that not only do we have the same waste being produced but now we also have the waste produced from an additional product to replace it.

Yes glass straws are nicer than paper since glass straws can be reused, but this isnt helping matters when its a new source of waste just added on top of the plastic waste.

@clacke @Gina