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Comment by geofft | Hacker News Reader

The plastic straw ban seems like an entirely unforced error on the part of liberals: disability-rights folks on the left are rightly upset that the removal of plastic straws makes life worse for people who physically need them in order to drink, environmentalist folks on the left who have actually looked at the data have concluded that a plastic straw ban is at best useless and at worst more harmful (e.g., Starbucks' new sippy-cup top uses more plastic than the old top + the old straw put together), and the right is having a field day with "You'll take my plastic straw from my cold, dead hands" jokes and calling liberals stupid - and they're not entirely wrong.

Is there something people in California can do to convince Gov. Brown not to sign the bill? (Do governors' offices typically listen to phone calls?)

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Reusable plastic (or metal) straws are a thing, and those with disabilities can use them if needed, and so can everyone else if wanted. It only takes a handful of uses to be an overall reduction in plastic used and the stiffer harder plastic is safer for animals if it ends up near them.

And Starbucks claims the plastic used in their new lids is both safer for wildlife, and easier to recycle than the plastic used in straws.

I'm not saying that I think this is overall a good thing, I'm not in any kind of position to make that kind of conclusion, but you did leave those points out of your comment.

What's the difference between "normal" plastic straws and reusable ones?

A reusable straw would be like the ones you see in a sippy cup or one of those reusable strabucks cups you see. Made of a more durable plastic than the flimsy one use straws. Like reusable plastic cups vs solo cups

Reusable straws are different because they are very difficult to clean and they are rigid, meaning many disabled people cannot use them at all (someone with distrophy or distonia may end up biting down on a straw, so you don't want to have a metal or hard plastic straw between your teeth when you do that).

So the difference between reusable and ond use straws is that reusable straws are trotted out as a "just do this" solution for straw access by people who don't know what's going on, and one use plastic straws are things that are necessary for disabled folks to engage in everyday life.

No one is suggesting banning plastic straws - at most the person would just need to buy them at a supermarket instead of getting them with their drink.

There are a few projects around to make one-use only straws with other materials that are biodegradable, however their cost might still be an issue.

Considering that the American right in general wants to do absolutely nothing to help the planet or the living things on it (as demonstrated by the candidates that win elections), I think they've removed themselves from the conversation entirely.

>>e.g., Starbucks' new sippy-cup top uses more plastic than the old top + the old straw put together

This tells me you misunderstand the problem.

It’s not about the amount of plastic used, but rather the shape. Plastic straws are very conducive to getting stuck inside various cavities of wild animals, which eventually kills them.

Couldn't we make spiral straws?

Can you quantify “very conducive to getting stuck inside various cavities of wild animals” with some data (not just one internet video).

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