7 ms·

Barista: you want a lid? Me: what color is it?

DoingIsLearning 2y ago
FYI most coffee cups which appear to be paper are also plastic lined. The real solution is sunsetting single-use anything for any other applications outside bio labs or medical procedures. But $$$
- InDubioProRubio 2y ago
  It will solve itself, nature adapts fast, if you have enough dice throws- and plastic is everywhere. A million evolutionary dices roll everywhere out there- and one day all the plastics get a mold and that building block of civilization just drips away.
  - latexr 2y ago
    > It will solve itself, nature adapts fast Indeed. The first step is for the planet to get rid of the pesky pollutants, perhaps by way of launching several “natural disasters” such as mighty strong winds, excessive floods, and particularly pesky deathly organisms. Then it can deal with plastic at its leisure. https://youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c https://youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c
    - hhdhdbdb 2y ago
      [flagged]
- Cthulhu_ 2y ago
  That's what happened at my workplace, we now have plastic screw-closed cups with silicon seals that stain easily. Blue though, not black.
- khafra 2y ago
  > The real solution is sunsetting single-use anything...but $$$ Those $$$ correspond to real-world costs. For examplee, we also want to lower car usage. Do you imagine that people who commute by bicycle or train are going to carry around durable versions of every single-use item they currently encounter? Cups, straws, plates, utensils, napkins, takeout containers, grocery bags, produce bags, tissues? Carrying around dirty versions of all the above until they get home to clean them? Even if they do, detergent is also single-use, and damaging to aquatic environments. I'm not some kind of hyperlibertarian, but I think we need to properly tax externalities (such as poisoning customers and destroying the viability of the biosphere), use the proceeds of that for mitigation, and let the market take care of the rest.
  - RandomThoughts3 2y ago
    Straws are useless. Plates and ustensiles can be provided by and cleaned at the place you eat. Takeout containers don’t take more space than the non reusable container you will have to carry back anyway. They can also be provided by your place of work if you generally go for take out for lunch. Reusable tissue bags take no space or paper bags can be used for a cost. Napkins and tissues are not made of plastics. So, yes I fully expect people to carry around reusable things even when they bike. It’s not that hard. You know how I know? Because I do it every day. Honestly stopping using single use items must be the easiest thing to do to limit the amount of trash you generate. It has absolutely no impact on your daily life.
    - hammock 2y ago
      > Napkins and tissues are not made of plastics Would you be surprised to learn that napkins and tissues and paper towels have all sorts of plastic coatings on them? It’s an untold story and I’d love one of these pubs to do some research the way they did about pizza boxes back in the day
      - frmersdog 2y ago
        I would think that durable versions wouldn't be made out of them, unless they were synthetic fibers.
cchi_co 2y ago
It's wild how something as simple as a coffee lid can become a point of scrutiny
- cies 2y ago
  If we as a society leave "safety" to the producers, yes it is. It's bizarre to see how new chemicals are basically "allowed because they are new" (maybe except in food additives), and the producers are expected to do inhouse undisclosed self-testing without being held to any standard.
  - cchi_co 2y ago
    [dead]
- toofy 2y ago
  it is. and it absolutely won’t be limited to coffee lids. when we don’t hold creators and sellers of products to any kind of real standard, they over and over and over will cut corners. we know this is a fact. when we don’t hold them responsible for the harms they directly or externally cause, we have to waste our fucking time scrutinizing ridiculous items like coffee lids. soon it will be each of the hundreds of items we buy during our regular trips to target—from toothbrush to laundry soap to shampoo to batteries. we have to get some actual enforceable testing, standards, and holding bad actors to account soon or it’s going to be a very very real mess. when we can’t trust companies to sell us safe spatulas or the lids on our coffee cups, we know we’ve gone off the rails. no one has time to “do their own research” on the hundreds or thousands of random products they come in contact with every single day, “the market” has never fixed this, this requires regulations with teeth.
  - cchi_co 2y ago
    [dead]
ninalanyon 2y ago
Just drink in a civilized manner from a porcelain cup in a civilized cafe then the whole problem is avoided.
- latexr 2y ago
  While I get your point, unfortunately “civilised” means plastic cups. You don’t see people in poor countries with no industry going to coffee shops to drink expensive coffee from plastic, they drink from handmade reusable cups.
dTal 2y ago
I wouldn't worry too hard about the coffee cup lid. It's almost certainly made of PLA (polylactic acid). Nobody's making flame-retardant consumer appliances out of PLA.

FYI most coffee cups which appear to be paper are also plastic lined. The real solution is sunsetting single-use anything for any other applications outside bio labs or medical procedures. But $$$

InDubioProRubio 2y ago
It will solve itself, nature adapts fast, if you have enough dice throws- and plastic is everywhere. A million evolutionary dices roll everywhere out there- and one day all the plastics get a mold and that building block of civilization just drips away.
- latexr 2y ago
  > It will solve itself, nature adapts fast Indeed. The first step is for the planet to get rid of the pesky pollutants, perhaps by way of launching several “natural disasters” such as mighty strong winds, excessive floods, and particularly pesky deathly organisms. Then it can deal with plastic at its leisure. https://youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c https://youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c
  - hhdhdbdb 2y ago
    [flagged]
Cthulhu_ 2y ago
That's what happened at my workplace, we now have plastic screw-closed cups with silicon seals that stain easily. Blue though, not black.
khafra 2y ago
> The real solution is sunsetting single-use anything...but $$$ Those $$$ correspond to real-world costs. For examplee, we also want to lower car usage. Do you imagine that people who commute by bicycle or train are going to carry around durable versions of every single-use item they currently encounter? Cups, straws, plates, utensils, napkins, takeout containers, grocery bags, produce bags, tissues? Carrying around dirty versions of all the above until they get home to clean them? Even if they do, detergent is also single-use, and damaging to aquatic environments. I'm not some kind of hyperlibertarian, but I think we need to properly tax externalities (such as poisoning customers and destroying the viability of the biosphere), use the proceeds of that for mitigation, and let the market take care of the rest.
- RandomThoughts3 2y ago
  Straws are useless. Plates and ustensiles can be provided by and cleaned at the place you eat. Takeout containers don’t take more space than the non reusable container you will have to carry back anyway. They can also be provided by your place of work if you generally go for take out for lunch. Reusable tissue bags take no space or paper bags can be used for a cost. Napkins and tissues are not made of plastics. So, yes I fully expect people to carry around reusable things even when they bike. It’s not that hard. You know how I know? Because I do it every day. Honestly stopping using single use items must be the easiest thing to do to limit the amount of trash you generate. It has absolutely no impact on your daily life.
  - hammock 2y ago
    > Napkins and tissues are not made of plastics Would you be surprised to learn that napkins and tissues and paper towels have all sorts of plastic coatings on them? It’s an untold story and I’d love one of these pubs to do some research the way they did about pizza boxes back in the day
    - frmersdog 2y ago
      I would think that durable versions wouldn't be made out of them, unless they were synthetic fibers.

cchi_co 2y ago

It's wild how something as simple as a coffee lid can become a point of scrutiny

cies 2y ago
If we as a society leave "safety" to the producers, yes it is. It's bizarre to see how new chemicals are basically "allowed because they are new" (maybe except in food additives), and the producers are expected to do inhouse undisclosed self-testing without being held to any standard.
- cchi_co 2y ago
  [dead]
toofy 2y ago
it is. and it absolutely won’t be limited to coffee lids. when we don’t hold creators and sellers of products to any kind of real standard, they over and over and over will cut corners. we know this is a fact. when we don’t hold them responsible for the harms they directly or externally cause, we have to waste our fucking time scrutinizing ridiculous items like coffee lids. soon it will be each of the hundreds of items we buy during our regular trips to target—from toothbrush to laundry soap to shampoo to batteries. we have to get some actual enforceable testing, standards, and holding bad actors to account soon or it’s going to be a very very real mess. when we can’t trust companies to sell us safe spatulas or the lids on our coffee cups, we know we’ve gone off the rails. no one has time to “do their own research” on the hundreds or thousands of random products they come in contact with every single day, “the market” has never fixed this, this requires regulations with teeth.
- cchi_co 2y ago
  [dead]

ninalanyon 2y ago

Just drink in a civilized manner from a porcelain cup in a civilized cafe then the whole problem is avoided.

latexr 2y ago
While I get your point, unfortunately “civilised” means plastic cups. You don’t see people in poor countries with no industry going to coffee shops to drink expensive coffee from plastic, they drink from handmade reusable cups.

dTal 2y ago

I wouldn't worry too hard about the coffee cup lid. It's almost certainly made of PLA (polylactic acid). Nobody's making flame-retardant consumer appliances out of PLA.