One of the kids says my wife recycled before recycling was cool. It's true. We raised five children on the motto of "use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without." And I am happy to say that their children now endure what they used to claim was barely endurable.
So it should be no surprise that my helpmate attempts to get drinking straws banned, or at least kept behind the counter until applied for, every place we eat. The idea is to keep them out of the big, plastic vortexes in the oceans. California has already banned plastic straws. So have a lot of cities.
When Marilyn began talking down the straws, she was usually met with polite incomprehension. But lately waiters are telling her that an effort was made, but customers complained, so the restaurant backed down. Yesterday we heard about customers who became downright hostile when told they have to ask.
Florida is an angry state. We encourage everyone to get concealed-carry permits so any kind of shooting is likely to be a fair fight. If all the participants are armed, the police should not charge the one still standing because he was "standing his ground," and the other guy died nobly defending the Second Amendment. If a cop makes a mistake and does arrest someone, the judge is supposed to throw out the case.
But anger over having to ask if you want a plastic straw? That seems like the last straw to me.
Have plastic straws become a tribal fightin' issue anywhere else? Or is it simply another case of just us.
You can use a plastic straw to make a pea shooter. I guess it's a second amendment thing.
ReplyDeleteOur local bar got paper straws. Is that acceptable?
ReplyDeleteSure. Paper decomposes. Plastic is forever.
DeleteWhen I was a kid, all the straws were paper. I think they were waxed, or something. They seemed to work fine; doesn't seem like it ought to be rocket science to bring them back.
ReplyDeleteThe straws are still plastic here. There are no major bodies of water anywhere around for them to get into. We'll probably be the last place to change.
The latest thing I'm reading about is that some vegans are boycotting avocados, because they are pollinated by honeybees. The hives of which are hauled around in rotation, which is supposedly disorienting to them. Not to mention people steal their honey. About this time I'm doing an eye-roll. Nice to be living in a time where we can be so darn picky about our food, some of us at least.
ReplyDeleteIt is not long ago when you were nobody if you didn't gorge on avacados. Now, you are nobody if you do? It is so hard to keep up with the Jessicas.
DeletePlastic straws are definitely a no-no in our house, thanks to a daughter who acts as our conscience when we're out to eat at a place that uses straws. The way she puts it is, Save the dolphins.
ReplyDeleteI assume the same no-no applies to those little coffee stirrers and the little things they put in mixed drinks. In England didn't they used to have a communal tea stirring spoon, chained to the lunch counter or some such - maybe we need to bring that back.
I imagine a common stirring spoon would give some of our snowflakes what the British call the vapours. But istm that some tea sets came with a spoon attached by a chain.
ReplyDeleteThe no-no applies, really, to any plastic that isn't biodegradable and can't be recycled. Some can be recycled. You are supposed to be able to tell which is which by the number that is supposed to be stamped on the plastic. The seven pillars of plastic are here:
https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/plastics-by-the-numbers/
The number system is one idea for promoting responsible plastic use, but it's more confusing than A-B-C, and not attractive, even if the person is putting all the plastic into circulation that he can because leftwing liberal LBGT Californians don't like it.
Here there seems to be a problem sustaining recycling efforts. There was a company accepting plastics for awhile, but they went belly up and faded from the scene. Our church was doing a paper recycling project for several years, and then the outfit they were doing business with just stopped showing up to empty the bins. The church was getting a little money from it, but not much. It was mainly to encourage people to be responsible. There's a truck comes to town periodically that takes old electronics. But you have to pay $25 to get rid of a tv. The most successful effort was where I worked. Their environmental person had set up a system with bins for every type of recycled materials. They actually made some money with it. But now I hear that they're having trouble getting pick-up, too. People are willing to recycle. But they're not going to do it if it costs them extra or they can't get rid of the stuff.
DeleteI am reading that China was buying a bunch of electronic and plastic recycling from us, and now they don't want it anymore. I don't know if that's a consequence of trade war politics, or if they're generating enough of their own crap that they don't need anybody else's.
DeleteI tell waitresses I don't need a straw. If they give me one, I take them home and wash them. I save them for ice coffee and tea that I order at the coffee shop. I have asked they put iced drinks in paper cups and switch to paper straws.
ReplyDelete