Plastic Straws, Which RCL Ships Have Done Away With

[KnightsFan]

I understand some of the paper straws will disintegrate--wondering what the heck are they made of. It would have been so much easier to mandatory recycle.

 

Some plastics can't be recycled. Straws are definitely an example of this.

 

And for those who don't get how straws end up in the ocean; land fills aren't closed systems, wind and rain can wash light weight items away. Or blow them out of garbage cans or trucks.

[ucfalli]

The simple solution is not use a straw or invest in reusable metal ones.

 

Americans alone use 500 million straws a day.

 

Plastic straws are absolutely horrible for the environment. The number of wildlife, especially marine and birds killed by straws each year are staggering just for the sake of convince and throw away once done.

[charmy98]

Most of you are old enough to remember when paper straws were the ONLY straws.

 

We survived.

 

Yep, I do and I did :) Nothing wrong with a paper straw.:)

[cb at sea]

Paper straws were all there were, years ago....everyone survived just fine. It works for a drink. If you plan on drinking a 2 liter thing...get several paper straws.

[Iamcruzin]

I don't get the fascination people have with plastic straws. I understand that elderly people and people with disabilities need straws and even some of us love our straws but isn't a paper single use straw good enough?

Try sucking a thick shake through a paper straw.

[Iamcruzin]

Paper straws were all there were, years ago....everyone survived just fine. It works for a drink. If you plan on drinking a 2 liter thing...get several paper straws.

I remember those paper straws when I was a kid. My mother would cut the ends off as they got soggy from saliva and the liquid. I was drinking out of a much smaller glass then so it worked out. I also remember that soda, milk, or juice came in a glass bottle or can. Now everything from laundry detergent to motor oil comes in a plastic container. Maybe that's where they should begin if they want to save the environment.

[Iamcruzin]

Time to start packing these:

 

Sorry not going to shlep reusable straws around a cruise ship or haul dish detergent to clean them out. I don't have children and I don't drool yet. I will just forgo the high fructose frozen drinks and stick to cocktails that are all liquor.

[boscobeans]

The simple solution is not use a straw or invest in reusable metal ones.

 

Americans alone use 500 million straws a day.

 

Totally debunked over and over again.. The initial number of the fantastic 500 million was part of a 9 year old boys research.

The boy, Milo Cress, of Vermont, who is now 16, told

Reason

, a libertarian magazine, in January that he arrived at the 500 million straws-a-day figure from phone surveys he conducted in 2011 with straw manufacturers.

The article attributed the stats to the National Park Service but the agency was not the original source.The park service actually got it from the recycling company Eco-Cycle, which in turn got it from the nine-year-old boy.

Does each man woman and child in the US use 1.6 plastic straws a day, really ??

.

 

 

I am not saying plastic straws are an environmental problem, ALL plastics that are not recycled are a problem, just as most things that do not decompose after a certain period of time.

 

But straws, really ? look at the reclamation practices for computers and electronic in India.

Is there a concerted effort to slap people with fines when that leave our beaches a total mess with everything from syringes to soda bottles? Plastic straws ?

 

How about sport fishing for sharks, a very stress sensitive species. They can survive with a belly full of all kinds of crap, but how many die after being hauled in and rereleased or after a long fight have the line cut?? Research has shown that

sharks captured and rereleased die very frequently.. How many? From as low as 6.8 percent of blue, 8.5 percent of tiger, and 15 percent of bull sharks, and as high as 88 percent of blacktip, 91 percent of Atlantic sharpnose, and 93 percent of great hammerhead sharks. I don't think a boatload of straws could kill that many sharks.

Is it because the straws can't be recycled?? If so why not the same stigma for plastic dairy product containers, which for the most part are the same class of plastic. Is it because they fly away in a breeze ? How about stopping the total use of plastic bags which don't go in the recycle bin and can be seen flying in the breeze on many city streets.

I don't use them as I am a beer drinker or a gin and tonic person for the most part but STRAWS, really ?

I hope they can come up something better than a talking point band aid to a problem..

bosco

[Livelikeagypsy]

Because the paper ones are terrible and taste horrible, based on my son observation. My son is not an alcohol drinker, but enjoys a Pepsi, Coke and water with a straw that is so much more sanitary..

 

Ok and not everyone drinks alcohol.

 

If you're tasting the straw you're doing it wrong.

 

Sorry not going to shlep reusable straws around a cruise ship or haul dish detergent to clean them out. I don't have children and I don't drool yet. I will just forgo the high fructose frozen drinks and stick to cocktails that are all liquor.

 

Did you need to post three times in a row of you trying to lightly throw shade at others?

[Iamcruzin]

Ok and not everyone drinks alcohol.

 

If you're tasting the straw you're doing it wrong.

 

 

 

Did you need to post three times in a row of you trying to lightly throw shade at others?

Let's make it 4

[mcatmcat]

I’m bringing my own next ship. On the Independent I had to ask for it and it could take 1-2 mins to them to find it so I just gonna bring my for the windjammer n problem solved.

Sometimes the solution is worst than the problem because at the end of the cruise I’m not going to save them so chances are they will land in the garbage.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Iamcruzin]

The reason they're being banned is people are saying the oceans are absolutely overflowing with plastic and straws. So while the companies on land are banning plastic straws and using paper straws they are serving those drinks in plastic cups, go figure, once again bureaucracy running amuck.

 

Exactly! That’s what annoys me. I couldn’t care less about not getting a plastic straw or any straw for that matter. Why does Half and Half Almond milk and all the other specialty milks come in cardboard containers while whole milk, 2% and skim come in plastic containers. There was a time when they all came in cardboard.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[BND]

The simple solution is not use a straw or invest in reusable metal ones.

 

Americans alone use 500 million straws a day.

 

Plastic straws are absolutely horrible for the environment. The number of wildlife, especially marine and birds killed by straws each year are staggering just for the sake of convince and throw away once done.

 

Something like 90% of the garbage in the oceans comes from Asia. In a lot of places there they just throw their garbage into the ocean and that includes plastic straws. US Companies using paper straws isn't going to change that. Most plastic straws (and many other plastic items that make up a larger percentage of garbage than straws do) from the US and cruiselines never end up in the ocean.

 

I'm old enough to remember only paper straws and if you've ever tried to drink a milkshake through one or had one just collapse on your because it got soggy, you'd remember that lol.

Edited July 28, 2018 by BND

[John&LaLa]

Most of you are old enough to remember when paper straws were the ONLY straws.

 

We survived.

Ted's Montana Grill has had them forever.

 

Just nasty

 

Laura smuggles in a plastic one.

 

She used to have to do that with the Coke cups on Royal. You could never find a long enough straw on the ship.

 

I dont use straws, but I like a swizzle stick or stirrer for my CapeCodders

 

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[John&LaLa]

Yeah...I resemble that remark. Kindergarten paper straws with Graham Cracker snack, then roll out the nap rug...

I'd like to see a paper straw pierce a juice box or Capri Sun. [emoji6]

 

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[RocketMan275]

Starbucks will replace the plastic straws with a new strawless container which uses more plastic than the old container. Often times, the solution makes the problem worse.

[dswallow]

The whole anti-straw movement is completely idiotic. If every single straw produced ended up in the oceans it'd amount to something like 0.03% (not 3%, but 0.03%) of the waste plastic in the oceans.

 

And most certainly not every single straw ends up there.

 

And that 500 million/day number in the US alone everyone quotes like it is some scientific study or actual real data from somewhere? A 9-year-old made it up through a "telephone survey of straw manufacturers."

 

This is just some stupid feel-good campaign being pushed by idiots, participated in by idiots, that will accomplish little to nothing in the end except waste everyone's time and energy, making them believe they're actually doing something to help a real problem.

 

And plastic straws are completely recyclable. The problem is that few have invested in the sorting equipment that can deal with smaller items like straws, and instead focus more on bigger items like laundry detergent containers. There's nothing about the plastic used in straws preventing their recycling, and likely just having pre-sorted them out of recycling bins as a category of their own would accomplish much more. And I've seen what goes on in RCL's recycling rooms. It could readily be done.

 

Getting rid of plastic straws is nothing more than a PR stunt.

[BND]

It just makes some people who for some reason carry around a lot of guilt about everything attempt to feel good about themselves. It's the issue of the moment. I just saw a local story about a raccoon who drowned in a local pool with it's head stuck in a tin can. I'm waiting for the "we have to ban tin cans to protect wildlife" crowd.

[SharkCruiser24]

You can buy 6 resusable straws for $1 at IKEA. Just bought 12 for our upcoming cruise. You know I’m case we forget one here and there.

[John&LaLa]

The whole anti-straw movement is completely idiotic. If every single straw produced ended up in the oceans it'd amount to something like 0.03% (not 3%, but 0.03%) of the waste plastic in the oceans.

 

And most certainly not every single straw ends up there.

 

And that 500 million/day number in the US alone everyone quotes like it is some scientific study or actual real data from somewhere? A 9-year-old made it up through a "telephone survey of straw manufacturers."

 

This is just some stupid feel-good campaign being pushed by idiots, participated in by idiots, that will accomplish little to nothing in the end except waste everyone's time and energy, making them believe they're actually doing something to help a real problem.

 

And plastic straws are completely recyclable. The problem is that few have invested in the sorting equipment that can deal with smaller items like straws, and instead focus more on bigger items like laundry detergent containers. There's nothing about the plastic used in straws preventing their recycling, and likely just having pre-sorted them out of recycling bins as a category of their own would accomplish much more. And I've seen what goes on in RCL's recycling rooms. It could readily be done.

 

Getting rid of plastic straws is nothing more than a PR stunt.

The environmental officer aboard Mariner said their biggest problem in recycling is the limes in Corona bottles. No mention of straws.

 

This was in April

 

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Wine-O]

The environmental officer aboard Mariner said their biggest problem in recycling is the limes in Corona bottles. No mention of straws.

 

This was in April

 

They don't need to worry about recycling straws. The reason they are being banned is everyone who gets a straw with their drink, once finished, walks over to the side of the ship and throws the straws into the ocean. That's gotta be the reason Royal is banning plastic straws on their ships. :rolleyes:

[alaska_planner]

The whole anti-straw movement is completely idiotic. If every single straw produced ended up in the oceans it'd amount to something like 0.03% (not 3%, but 0.03%) of the waste plastic in the oceans.

 

And most certainly not every single straw ends up there.

 

And that 500 million/day number in the US alone everyone quotes like it is some scientific study or actual real data from somewhere? A 9-year-old made it up through a "telephone survey of straw manufacturers."

 

This is just some stupid feel-good campaign being pushed by idiots, participated in by idiots, that will accomplish little to nothing in the end except waste everyone's time and energy, making them believe they're actually doing something to help a real problem.

 

And plastic straws are completely recyclable. The problem is that few have invested in the sorting equipment that can deal with smaller items like straws, and instead focus more on bigger items like laundry detergent containers. There's nothing about the plastic used in straws preventing their recycling, and likely just having pre-sorted them out of recycling bins as a category of their own would accomplish much more. And I've seen what goes on in RCL's recycling rooms. It could readily be done.

 

Getting rid of plastic straws is nothing more than a PR stunt.

 

well said!

 

 

(what i really want to say, but i'll get flamed no doubt, threads like this make me even happier not to live in the US :cool: )

.

Edited July 28, 2018 by alaska_planner

[KnightsFan]

Are y'all really arguing "This doesn't go far enough, so we shouldn't even try"? Get out of here with that crap, by making these little changes we become more aware of the impact of our actions. Yes, today it's straws, but hopefully next year it's shrink wrap and blister packages.

[Wine-O]

Are y'all really arguing "This doesn't go far enough, so we shouldn't even try"? Get out of here with that crap, by making these little changes we become more aware of the impact of our actions. Yes, today it's straws, but hopefully next year it's shrink wrap and blister packages.

 

I think we are arguing that it is ignorant, stupid, feel good, and "much ado about nothing." Maybe liberals should take their message to Asia and Africa where over 90% of the plastics pollution is taking place.

[Iamcruzin]

Getting rid of plastic straws is nothing more than a PR stunt.

 

 

Don’t worry. When they figure out that the paper straws are not cost effective and more labor intensive having the staff replace the soggy ones they will launch a new campaign. We heard our passengers. We are bringing back the straws. Book during our Sip 'N' Sale and save 50% off on the second guest.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited July 28, 2018 by Iamcruzin