Do you use a re-useable straw now?

My family uses stainless steel straws. We have a bunch of them and those brushes. I don’t use any kind of straws, however.

I don’t, and I don’t think I would. Seems tricky in keeping them clean, and I don’t need to use a straw much at all. I use a straw at home maybe once a year. I use a straw at a restaurant maybe 50% of the time.

I’ve not used a straw since I was a kid.

I don’t use straws, but I can’t see using the metal ones. If a kid fell on one, or jabbed it in their eye, it could be deadly. I would go with paper.

I have a set but don’t remember to bring them out with me. I do ask for no straw when I am out in a restaurant; I never use straws at home.

We have a set of them and use them all the time. I drink one or two ice coffees a day and they’re perfect for that. And, they match my stainless steel insulated cup rather nicely.

They are really easy to clean. Hot water run through. Couple in and outs with the brush. Rinse. Done. I stand them up in a glass to dry.

I have never understood the concept of a straw.
Whats so hard about drinking from a bottle or a glass, or a cup, with one’s mouth, direct?
Maybe for toddlers, or someone with a disability.
If that was all the people that used them probably the problem wouldn’t be so big.

Stainless steel straws would make fantastic pea shooters…just sayin.

@rebbel I think it partly has to do with how much ice they put in cold drinks in restaurants in the USA.

Yes, bought a half dozen on ebay, use them all the time.

@janbb That makes some sense.
So you effectively pay for a (whole) coke and get a quarter coke?

@rebbel Something like.Maybe 50/50.

@rebbel – In some cases, you pay more to get less. In most coffee shops, a 12 oz coffee = $x. An iced version of that same coffee will be something like $x + .75. So you end up with maybe 6oz less of coffee for an extra .75 over the price of the hot coffee.

I don’t use a stainless steel straw.

At most fast food restaurants, the cup is so big that the top is flimsy and there’s a big risk of spilling some. The lid helps stabilize the cup, and the straw is then necessary to drink with the lid on. When driving, the cup with the lid and the straw is more helpful than the cup with no lid and splashing soda. With little kids, the lid and straw are helpful because little kids are shaky and distracted and are lucky they can get the food and drink into their mouths.

I usually avoid a straw when I am in a fast food place but when I get it to go, in the car, then the lid and straw are necessary. Yesterday I was in Panera. and I got the lid and straw because I didn’t want the soda splashing out when I walked to the table, and also I knew that the majority of the contents of the cup would be coming out to go with me into the car.

At home I have some paper straws that I bought for decorative use. I find the top, where your mouth goes, gets soggy and useless very fast.

Nope. Cannot be cleaned/sanitized.

I prefer using a straw when i drink my cola. Paper straws were banned because it helped in destroying our forests so we were switched to plastic straws. Plastic straws are destroying the environment so we’re being switched to stainless steel straws. They can be cleaned and they can be sterilized so I see no reason to not use them. I like that there is nothing to throw away and waste. I’m just waiting to hear why the food grade stainless steel is bad for us

I don’t use straws at all unless it’s in a drive thru, which is rare.

@rebbel I heard that warehouses are often full of rat and mice feces, so you never want to touch your lips to say, a can of Coke.

@KNOWITALL: My grandfather used to wash the top of a soda or beer can. His logic was “you never know if people sneezed on it in the store.” LOL. Logical!

I only use one-use straws when I do use straws.
Bacteria from milk is one of the deadliest known and, since reusable straws can be hard to clean, they can be dangerous to reuse.

No. Never.

Yes, now…and again ~.

Mostly, though, I have stopped using straws altogether. The reusable ones seem icky to me. I do like an occasional paper straw at a house party.

@KNOWITALL Do you worry about it with all canned food? A typical can opener pushes any germs on the top of the can into the food.

@Rebbel I think it’s the ice in America too. I order most drinks with no ice, or very little ice. When there is a lot of ice, sometimes it becomes a block and rushes towards your mouth when you tip the class and the drink splashes on you. Another problem is getting all the drink out when there is so much ice.

At one point Mayor Bloomberg was proposing restricting sodas to 16 ounces for health reasons, and I remember thinking if that applies to cups from the soda fountain then it’s too strict, because so many Americans have 50% ice in their cup. In NYC growing up they didn’t serve so much ice I don’t think, maybe my memory is wrong, but in our Southern states it’s always been a glass full of ice as the standard.

On my first date with my husband we both ordered Coke with no ice. I pretty much knew then we would get along. Lol. He’s Mexican. Clean water is expensive in Mexico in most areas as you probably know. It’s not like America where clean water runs from all the taps. Anyway, it’s supposed to be clean in America.

@JLeslie I don’t eat much canned food, and I try to get pull tops if I do. I don’t use soda cans either, but occasionally will buy a 2 liter. I’m a bit of a germaphobe if you hadn’t noticed yet lol.

^^I’m a bit of a germaphobe too. Bottles have caps over the area you put your mouth on. I hate drinking from a can or bottle anyway, I’m not good at it. I prefer a cup.

I usually wipe of them can top of whatever it is. Probably it doesn’t do much. I guess I could use a sanitary wipe, but I haven’t obsesses about this particular problem.

@JLeslie Oh boy, I’m sorry…sometimes it’s probably better we don’t know everything. But now you’ll read these and know what I think about lol

Here you go, read with caution.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mouse-poop-fda-food_n_7572232

Here’s another:
Autopsy results concluded it hit Leptospirosis. The bacteria, known as LEPTOSPIRA interrogans, is stuck to the tin cans, and were drunk, without the use of glasses, cups or sip straws. Test results showed that the soda tin was infected from mice urine, and that had dried, the mice’ urine containing Leptospirosis. It is highly recommended to rinse the parts evenly on all soda cans before
drinking it. Cans are usually stored in the warehouse and delivered direct to retail stores without cleaning.

A study shows that the top of all beverage cans are more contaminated than public toilets (full of germs and bacteria.) So, clean it with water before putting it to your mouth in order to avoid contamination.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/rat-urine-soda-cans/

And body mites:
We don’t even know how many mites we carry
Scientists, however, have never fully studied the total abundance of mites on the human body. Dan Fergus, a researcher that works with Menninger, estimates that the average person has between 1.5 and 2.5 million mites, but no one really knows.
https://www.vox.com/2014/6/11/5799992/these-mites-live-on-your-face-and-come-out-to-have-sex-at-night

I do use them. My friend got me the straight and bend ones with cleaning brushes, as a variety pack on Amazon, for Christmas. I much prefer them over the wasted plastic ones.

Very impressive bunch of comments thanks everyone! For now I think I will put mine in the bottom of my sock drawers for my kids to find when I am dead and gone.

@Vignette for me just the opposite, I’m going to buy some more stainless steel ones and give them to my kids and grandkids

@elbanditoroso That would be the one thing I would/will not do. You comment just brought back a flood of memories of all the cuts and scratches in the back of my throat I endured as a kid from errant straw encounters. Sippy cups for them until they are 21.

No because I don’t use straws.

I use straws ever since my lips got too lazy to keep liquid in. Rather than drizzle my coffee on my shirt, I use reuseable plastic straws. I clean them in the silverware basket of my dishwasher

@YARNLADY

Do you remove the straws before the dry cycle starts?

No. I have always bought individually wrapped paper straws. Always. And they are skinny. I hate the fat straw craze that fast food started to sell more soda. I don’t use a straw, myself. But my kids did when growing up. My mother is in assisted living and has me keep her supplied with straws.

The worst, are the paper straws. I am all about making sacrifices, for the environment. But fuck paper straws… I don’t usually use a straw, but those paper ones, are disgusting…..

I do have a sister, who uses the stainless steel versions. Seems ok, to me…

Nope. When I get soft drinks to go, I want the plastic straws because sliding them in out of the plastic lids makes funny sex sounds.

@Brian1946 No, I haven’t ever had a problem with them melting. I wash my toothbrushes that way also.

@Sagacious I think the fat straw is to accommodate milk shakes.

@JLeslie: The average fast food straw (like at McD’s) is fatter than one you’d buy at the supermarket.

The whole thing, honestly, pisses me off. The environment, is dying, and we are the killers. Of all of the things that we could do, we have decided to use different straws… it’s like a bad joke…

@MrGrimm888 seriously?

Most things – straws included – came into being because the serve a functional purposes. Just like brooms, knives, forks, bows, arrows, guns, and and a million other products.

They sell, and get used, because the solve a problem or satisfy a need for the user.

The answer isn’t to say “straws are stupid” – because then you’re negating the fact that they serve a useful function.

If the goal is environmental protection, then society needs to figure out how to produce an environmentally sensitive straw. The answer is not “nobody needs straws”.

^OK.

@elbanditoroso That’s not how I read @mrgrimm888’s answer at all. I read it as him saying “why straws” when we should/could help other environmental issues such as plastic bottles and other trash gunking up our planet. Yes, straws are a start, but for companies to brag they are becoming environmentally concerned and doing their part by changing to paper straws is ludicrous. Especially when they still have plastic cups, plates and utensils.

”The answer is not “nobody needs straws”.”
No, the answer is that very very few people need straws.
Others can put the bottle, or the glass, to their faces direct.
(Straw) problem (mostly) solved.

#passonplastics

@chyna . You read my post exactly…

@MrGrimm888: “The whole thing, honestly, pisses me off. The environment, is dying, and we are the killers. Of all of the things that we could do, we have decided to use different straws… it’s like a bad joke…”

I can’t believe you are saying that you hate dogs!

Straws aren’t going to save the planet….

Time for a straw poll…

@ica2 I know. I think it is to accommodate the milkshakes.

I guess they are dangerous to wildlife. I heard a song about a turkey in the straw. A tornado must have done it.

It’s no one’s business why someone else uses, likes, needs, or purchases straws. People who want them buy them. If they think plastic is evil, they will buy the paper version. The market works.

@Sagacious Protecting the environment is EVERYONE’S business.

@YARNLADY . My straws are none of your business. And, you don’t decide what is my business.

^She doesn’t. But. If it becomes a law, you’ll have ramifications, for having illegal straws. Probably just a fine. Unless you are a plastic straw dealer…

Hence the stainless steel straws. Environmentally friendly and a great defensive weapon for when some misinformed, eco-vigilante, yahoo, tries to come for the plastic straws I don’t use anyway.

^You could definitely stab the shit out of someone, with one of those stainless steel staws…

Last night I went out to eat and the glass was so huge I decided to use a straw. A lot of restaurants do that in America, I guess so the waitperson doesn’t have to keep an eye on refilling your glass. It’s rare that they bring a carafe of water to your table so you can add water yourself, but I like when they do.

When you have the straw in a cup with a plastic lid on it, it usually doesn’t spill, which is why it’s convenient for the car. The cups at Panera and Starbucks are like that. Like a thick plastic with a lid that snaps on tightly. Of course, it all goes into the garbage which is awful for the environment.

@MrGrimm888 Just wait the news reports of people impaling themselves on these SS Straws will soon be pouring in.

Off topic, but relative to environmentally bad garbage, is everyone aware a way has been found which makes styrofoam degradable?
Mealworms are able to digest it, and it doesn’t make the worm dangerous for predators to eat. I find that quite encouraging.

Can’t the plastic straws be recycled?

^^ Yes, but how hungry are these mealworms?

They don’t prefer it, but if it is their only option, they can go through considerable amounts.

I read an article about a bacteria, that can consume plastic. But who knows what impact that would have.

Australia, for example, had problems with flies. So. They brought in frogs. Now, they have a frog issue.

In a local lake, they had an issue with water foliage taking over the lake. So. They brought in carp, who eat such vegetation. Now, the lake is full of the vegetation still, but there are way too many carps. A fish that almost nobody eats.

So. The solution, can also bring about bigger problems…

No. The obsession with straws is 90% virtue signalling. In order for a re-usable straw (or re-usable shopping bag or whatever) to actually be a net-win for the environment, you have to re-use them a STAGGERINGLY huge number of times. My county just passed a 10c per plastic bag tax. In order for the reusable bags to be better than the disposable ones, you have to reuse it hundreds or thousands of times (depending on precisely what kind of bag). These things become dirty and nasty and get thrown away long before that happens in most cases.

The better way to protect sea life is to just do a better job stopping waste from reaching the ocean. TheOceanCleanup is a charity doing exactly that. It’s hard sometimes to REALLY know how effective a charity is from the outside, and Ocean Cleanup isn’t being rated by Charity Navigator, and that worries me…I even emailed them about it to ask if they had plans to become rated, and got a very dismissive ‘we are doing fine without them…’ response that was very concerning.

BUT, if they are on the level, they’re doing it right. They’re using interceptors in the rivers to catch trash before it gets to the ocean. Most ocean trash comes from rivers in poor nations where trash pickup either is poor or doesn’t exist. As such, everything gets discarded in heaps, and those end up in rivers. THAT is what effective environmental policy would look like…not reusable straws. Reusable straws is what you do when you want people to SEE you as caring for the environment.

^^I wash my reusable bags in the washing machine. Not every time I go shopping, but I guess I could. They have insulation to keep items cold or hot and still they wash and dry well.