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Paper and bamboo straws contain PFAS chemicals more often than plastic straws do
- bushbaba 3y agoNo shit. Paper straws literally need a plastic coating to work. It’s the dumbest invention ever. At least do compostable plastic straws over paper.l, and even that’s not great. I see no issue with plastic straws that are then used by peaker electric plants.
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- jbaber 3y agoUsed to be wax.
- SoftTalker 3y agoYeah we got those in school with our milk when I was a kid. They lasted about 10 minutes and then came apart.
- timbit42 3y agoThat's long enough for most uses. Make it 15 or 20 minutes and it would be long enough for every reasonable use.
- f1refly 3y agoCompostable plastic is a complete scam, it just means tha me industrial composters will break the plastic down into small microplastic fragments with heat.
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- ars 3y agoThey found PFAS in/on glass??? Something is very odd with their methodology in that case. I wonder if they are making the common mistake of searching for fluoride and assuming it must be a PFAS.
- blamazon 3y agoWould you mind explaining why you are surprised by this result? I'm a layman but as I understand it PFAS are known to be able to absorb into glass at the very least from extended exposure to aqueous solution, as such it is common for water PFAS sampling instructions to specify not using glass to hold samples. [1,2,3,4] Additionally, PFAS surface coatings are often intentionally applied to glass to make it more hydro or oleophobic. [5] It stands to reason that PFAS could either be applied on purpose to glass straws, ('easy clean!') or for some other product in the same factory. [1]: https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/pfas/docs/sept_2020_pfas_sampling_guidelines.pdf https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/pfas/docs/sept_2020_pfas_samp... [2]: https://www.michigan.gov/pfasresponse/investigations/sampling-guidance https://www.michigan.gov/pfasresponse/investigations/samplin... [3]: https://www.mass.gov/doc/field-sampling-guide-for-pfas/download https://www.mass.gov/doc/field-sampling-guide-for-pfas/downl... [4]: https://epaz.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/Conference/2-D1-13%20PFAS%20Dos%20&%20Donts-%20B%20Profitt.pdf https://epaz.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/Conference/2-D1-13... [5]: https://www.aculon.com/hydrophobic-glass/ https://www.aculon.com/hydrophobic-glass/
- ars 3y agoThe PFAS sticks to glass, but doesn't absorb into the glass. Meaning the PFAS isn't coming from the straw manufacture, but rather later - perhaps during washing. Meaning they are not being careful to distinguish between PFAS as included by the manufacturer, and PFAS that comes later. So all the PFAS they found - is that just PFAS from the local water supply? If so the entire research is called into question. (I highly doubt glass straws are being marketed as easy clean - the coating doesn't stay, you have to reapply it, so I doubt they would bother spending that money on straws for something temporary.)
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- original_idea 3y agoBut do they go up turtle noses?
- FridayoLeary 3y agoabsolutely. It's a design feature.
- FridayoLeary 3y ago>>The researchers sampled 39 brands of straws made of paper, bamboo, glass, stainless steel and plastic. Of those, 27 were found to contain PFAS, though the concentrations were low. So basically nothing new. I was actually surprised they didn't find tons of pfas in paper straws as those stuff are lined with waterproof coating. On a tangent, paper straws are a symbol of everything that's wrong with current climate politics; we have to deal with inferior products, while the actual corporations responsible are free to act with impunity. All these edicts banning stuff such as plastic straws are passed on high from the ivory towers of conventions filled with politicians and successful businessman, flown in on private jets and driven the last mile in photogenic electric cars, to talk about what the lower classes do and do not deserve to have.
- mushbino 3y agoBan PFAS and single use plastics. Problem solved.
- coryrc 3y agoSingle use plastics are not a climate change problem.
- reverius42 3y agoThere can be more than one problem.
- coryrc 3y agoSingle use PE or PP straws do not cause any problem in the USA. None.
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- franga2000 3y agoSingle-use anything can be a climate change problem (besides being an obvious pollution problem). Single-use means new onrs being constantly manufactured and used ones being constantly destroyed/recycled. All of those are energy intensive processes, not to mention the energy use for constantly getting more raw materials. More energy use means more GHG emissions.
- city_guy_1 3y agoI'm curious if bamboo/wood plates/bowls/cooking utensils (spatula, ladles) also have PFAS.
- hunter-gatherer 3y agoEvery time plastic waste or PFAS comes up, it seems like straws are mentioned. Am I the onky one who never uses a straw? What do you all find you get from them that you wouldn't get from just drinking out of a cup?
- CuriouslyC 3y agoNot a huge straw person, but a lid.
- blamazon 3y agoLids that can be directly sipped from are common for hot drinks - like a single use coffee cup. Increasingly more common for single use packaging of cold drinks due to the whole straw thing.
- SoftTalker 3y agoThe single-use coated cups and lids are probably full of PFAS also.
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- Dalewyn 3y agoUseful to stir with, so I don't waste a spoon or a stirring stick. Keeps my lips and areas around my mouth clean, so I don't waste a napkin. Don't have to put my lips on the cup/glass, so more sanitary if eating/drinking out.
- callalex 3y ago>so more sanitary if eating/drinking out Wait have you ever gotten an illness that was attributed to a rim of a beverage glass that wasn’t also present in the rest of the beverage?
- everdrive 3y agoSometimes I think people don't really want to survive. When faced with an extremely minor inconvenience, what is the answer? Industrial poison.
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- jeroenhd 3y agoThe obvious solution seems to be dropping straws entirely until manufacturers can get their shit together like they did during the wax-on-paper days. Reusable bamboo/metal straws are always an option of course (or even a requirement people with for certain disabilities) but for most people throwaway straws are the most ridiculous luxury people get upset about being taken away from them.
- ffhhttt 3y agoWhy pick straws though? There are plenty of similarly environmentally harmful and even less useful things that we ignore (like all the excessive nested packaging for some preprocessed food products).
- qball 3y ago>Why pick straws though? Because banning them is highly visible and enshittifies life in general (paper straws are fucking garbage and everyone knows this) without solving the actual problem (pollution should trend downwards). This makes environmentalists happy, because making life worse for everyone is their goal (actual progress on the problem means they lose relevance/social power and nobody ever destroys their own meal ticket); and it makes the greenwashers happy, because it makes most people think something's being done even when it isn't (and can continue to sell truthy solutions that feel good but don't work, plus the profit and power that comes from having massive capital stores in an economic context artificially driven to zero-sum with environmentalism as the excuse to impose it).
- jeroenhd 3y agoBanning straws has to be the tiniest, least impactful change we can possibly make to reduce unnecessary plastic waste. It's a perfect representation of how we're all doomed because nobody wants to give up the tiniest bit of luxury when it comes to attempts to fix global problems. I'm all for action against excessive packaging (as long as we don't cause food waste, i.e. by banning the plastic keeping fruits and vegetables edible for much longer) but nested plastics seems to be rather rare in my experience. Even sixpacks of cans come in cardboard packaging these days. It's been months since I last saw nested plastic packaging. I've never seen any law specifically targeting straws. Most of the laws target single-use plastics, such as plastic cutlery and plates. The people focusing on straws seem to be "the damn liberal environmentalist communists want to make your life worse" types of media.
- countWSS 3y agoI use transparent plastic pens as straws, its a bit shorter but the plastic is way more resilient and its reusable forever. example of such pen: https://i0.wp.com/phenomenex.blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ballpoint-pens.jpg?ssl=1 https://i0.wp.com/phenomenex.blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/10...
- sebazzz 3y agoIt's a bad idea to use stuff that is not certified as food safe for food. Not only because some chemicals may come loose, but also because you might have bacteria growth in unexpected areas. Myself, I prefer metal straws, with came also with a tool to clean them.
- countWSS 3y agoI'm sure the stuff you hold in hands for hours, and which absorb chemicals into your bloodstream directly by skin diffusion, is far more safer than what is allowed to pass through the digestive system.
- chownie 3y agoThis line of thought makes no sense, the plastic pen designed to sit in your hand was crucially NOT designed to be in your mouth directly touching mucous membrane. Perhaps skin diffusion has been taken into account somewhere but this is not carte blanche to up that dosage by some unknown exponent by shoving unknown, non-food grade plastic (whose constituent parts you don't even know) into your mouth
- countWSS 3y agoWell, i know you wouldn't want to mix plastic with anything hotter than room temp, but diffusion with cold drinks is minimal for hard plastics like Polypropylene that most ballpoint pen barrels consist of. Polypropylene (PP) https://www.acplasticsinc.com/informationcenter/r/fda-approved-plastics-for-food-contact https://www.acplasticsinc.com/informationcenter/r/fda-approv... Polypropylene is most often used for single-serve containers like yogurt cups, but also shows up in reusable containers that can store leftovers. On top of being one of the FDA approved food contact materials, it's microwave safe and nonvolatile, meaning it will not react with any type of food you store in it, whether it's acidic, basic or liquid.
- Escapade5160 3y agoIt seems humanity just can't win. Short of using glass and metal for everything is there any way plastic can be used without harming the environment?
- timbit42 3y agoA reusable plastic straw is a lot better than a one-use plastic straw.