People often talk about swapping out plastic straws for other materials to help the ocean/fish and the environment, but they also complain about paper straws falling apart easily. Other alternatives that are slightly more sturdy like straws made of straw don’t seem very common.
But do we even need straws? My first reaction was that any liquid can be drunk directly from the vessel it’s in, and straws just add another level of convenience. If we don’t want to use plastic straws and the alternatives mostly suck (actually all straws suck 🤓), why not just ditch straws entirely?
There are people who have disabilities that prevent or make it hard to drink without a straw, for example, they have shaky hands and would spill their drink otherwise.
I want to add that the convenience factor they give to non-disabled people really helps the life-necessity factor for disabled people. Economy of scale helps a lot. Someone who needs straws to live can go to any grocery or convenience store and buy dozens or hundreds of the things for dirt cheap because the disabled people aren’t the only ones buying them, and that’s a good thing.
Or, they could buy one reusable metal one to last a lifetime.
Aren’t reusable straws difficult to sanitize? I’ve always wondered
No, why would they be? Hot water, same as any other dish
Most come with a little brush to help clean them as well
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That metal straw could end up impaling their brain though.
Yeah, somebody else explained to me that they can only use plastic straws for disabled folk
Or after you go to the dentist yourself! Granted you can likely survive without drinking room temperature anything because your gums/terth are sore for a bit, but disabled people cannot.