Raging against straws

However, I have seen firsthand the benefit of straws — especially the bendable ones — for the elderly or disabled and think whatever ban that may take place should take that population into consideration.

The movement against straws is growing momentum, however, and it’s just a matter of time until local city councils and perhaps even the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors considers some sort of new regulation on them.

The concern is about the amount of straws that end up in landfills, and in the ocean, contributing to the great Pacific garbage patch. It’s gotten so that young people are buying their own personal straws — sometimes made of metal — as a way to avoid use of disposable ones and to virtue signal to others that they too are concerned about the planet and will do whatever it takes to save it.

Might I suggest some other ways. First of all, restaurants should ask if people want straws, or at least offer them in a container on the table so if people want them, they can take one, rather than have them automatically placed in drinks. If this is something that can be done through government regulation, fine. We sort of did that during the drought when people had to ask for water at restaurants. But this is the tip of the iceberg.

With the proliferation of delivery services, more and more people are having food brought to them rather than making it themselves. In doing so, there is additional packaging. For the food, for the utensils, for the bag to carry the food. We live in an era of convenience, in which people don’t think twice about having someone else drive to Cold Stone, double park, wait for a couple of ice cream orders, then drive to someone’s house. Inevitably, that ice cream comes with spoons and napkins even though most people have those at home. So there is waste. And there is an environmental impact of having someone drive a couple of ice cream orders to someone’s house because there was no pre-planning for Saturday night treats.

Also, on the heels of Starbucks also doing away with straws, might I suggest that getting drinks in disposable cups every single day also contributes to waste as well? Perhaps someone thinking about the planet might want to think about all those cups they are using as well. Might also cut down on personal expenses as well if coffee is made at home.

But back to straws. They are the new bad guy. Already banned in Seattle, San Francisco officials came trotting up with their own ideas (I do find it somewhat interesting that this is what officials are trying to solve when there are growing reports of used hypodermic needles and feces on the streets). Despite some reports of pleas from boba tea purveyors, they are in the midst of banning straws and also requiring napkins and utensils be available only upon request. The latter is not such a bad idea since, more often than not, most people don’t need them. Frugal people might save them for use later like at a picnic, but most people will just throw them away with all the other packaging.

Limiting the thoughtless placing of straws in drinks at restaurants and the reduction of utensils in to-go orders are small steps. Good ones too, I suppose. But unless we rethink how we use things and have them delivered to us, and put “reduce” in our vernacular, these small steps are just that, small.

But just lemming it because Seattle and San Francisco did it has the potential to be something small that only serves to make us feel we are doing something when really many of us need a wholesale lifestyle change. Too often we do things — carry metal straws, drive an electric car, carry reusable bags — that are small steps but largely serve to make us feel we are taking a big step when really the big step is reducing the amount we consume overall.

And that big step just might be what actually breaks the camel’s back. Not straws.

Jon Mays is the editor in chief of the Daily Journal. He can be reached at jon@smdailyjournal.com. Follow Jon on Twitter @jonmays.