News Disney removing plastic straws and more by mid-2019

[Nubs70]

I'm always fascinated by which topics cause such passion on this forum. Who would have thought something as irrelevant as banning straws and those hideous plastic bags would create a 15 page topic?!

It is fascinating, in that, we are faced with a bandwagon "save the earth" proposition. If one likes plastic straws, one cares not for the earth, wishes death on others, clubs baby seals, etc.. When a little critical analysis shows the argument is flawed and 100% compliance will provide zero benefit.

Throw in governmental mandates and celebrity "be like me, I know better" sales pitch. Personally, government has better things to be concerned with and celebrities can pound sand.

 

[ABQ]

Throw in governmental mandates and celebrity "be like me, I know better" sales pitch. Personally, government has better things to be concerned with and celebrities can pound sand.

But...are you saying I don't walk in the same shoes as Celebrity X and Y?

 

[drizgirl]

But the entire contents of your drink are in contact with the inside of the glass?

But the rim is far more likely to come into contact with other people's hands. They don't typically stick their hands way down inside the glass. But they do sometimes pick them up by the rim.

 

[GoofGoof]

I'm always fascinated by which topics cause such passion on this forum. Who would have thought something as irrelevant as banning straws and those hideous plastic bags would create a 15 page topic?!

I think there’s a bit of political slant to anything involving the environment these days.

I agree it seems pretty irrelevant to me too and 1 of 4 parks already do it. If you need your plastic fix you can always just buy a 20oz soda, water or power aid at any of the carts. They have way more plastic than a straw

The bag thing is interesting. When it rains it’s not going to be easy to walk around the parks with a paper bag, but I guess they will just sell more reusable bags those days. I like how they slipped in the shampoo in the hotel rooms as part of this. We have been hearing about that change for a while now. That’s more of a loss to me than the straw thing.

 

[21stamps]

You could point to the ALS bucket challenge and say, “Well they at least raise a lot of money THAT year!” And you’d be right. Think about what they had to do to do that: They had to trick narcissistic people into using their own vanity to get donations. Yeah, it worked one time. It didn’t convince anyone to actually help out and do anything - just “look at me” stuff and “see how much I care”.

Hey now.. the bucket challenge was a lot of fun.. and it did raise a lot of money.
It’s not really that much different than sponsoring someone on a Polar Bear swim.. or donating to a charity for someone’s birthday or funeral.

 

[21stamps]

I think there’s a bit of political slant to anything involving the environment these days.

I agree it seems pretty irrelevant to me too and 1 of 4 parks already do it. If you need your plastic fix you can always just buy a 20oz soda, water or power aid at any of the carts. They have way more plastic than a straw

The bag thing is interesting. When it rains it’s not going to be easy to walk around the parks with a paper bag, but I guess they will just sell more reusable bags those days. I like how they slipped in the shampoo in the hotel rooms as part of this. We have been hearing about that change for a while now. That’s more of a loss to me than the straw thing.

I’m about as right wing as you can get.. and I recycle.. made all of my kid’s baby food..use bento boxes instead of disposable bags..and tried my hardest to do disposable diapers.

I think people think that it’s more of a political thing than it really is.

 

[Nubs70]

Imagine the environmental apocalypse if everyone cut their straw in half!!!

We would be using 1,000,000,000 straws a day!!!!!

 

[21stamps]

But the rim is far more likely to come into contact with other people's hands. They don't typically stick their hands way down inside the glass. But they do sometimes pick them up by the rim.

Does Disney have wash stations for reusable bottles? That could solve the problem.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Well, you've always been my biggest fan

I'm sipping out of plastic straw AND Styrofoam cup as we speak.

I'm sticking a plastic straw into the ground and sucking out Gaia's world-spirit.

 

[Hcalvert]

What about all of those plastic ponchos they are selling?

I think paper straws and reusable bags are a good idea btw.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

The trouble with everyone’s argument that straws are only a tiny percentage of plastic waste that goes to landfill and therefor we shouldn’t focus on them, but on bigger plastic items is flawed.

The big trouble with plastic straws is that millions either never make it to landfill, or when they get there they don’t stay there. Straws chucked out of cars by careless people, straws blown away in the wind at a theme park, straws dropped by a child on a path to later be washed away by heavy rain, straws that roll of the table in the cafe, or fall out of the trash as the bins being emptied. Straws are small, lightweight and get everywhere. They get blown out of landfill, washed away by rains and end up in streams and rivers and the ocean.

Next time your on a beach have a look. Next time your at an intersection check out the grass verges. Next time your in a theme park have a look on the ground. Straws get everywhere.

We share this plannet, not just with each other, but with countless other species. The argument over plastics shouldn’t be about preserving the plannet for our kids, but about sharing the plannet right now in the best way we can with every other living animal. Go google some images of straws and wildlife, and then come back and justify why you should have a plastic straw to sip your cola.

Yea I get that some children and adults with a limited range of motion may find plastic straws useful. Nothing wrong with that. I’m not suggesting they be outlawed. But they are a tiny, tiny, tiny number of the millions upon millions of plastic straws used each day. We can figure it out.

Yea Disney may be jumping on the bandwagon. Yes refillable toiletries in hotels may save them thousands of dollars each year, but let’s get on board here. We’re not the only ones on the plannet.

Do I advocate we all go and live in a mud hut, live off the land and forgo our modern day life style. No. I’m no hippie. I get that my flight from the UK to Florida damages the plannet. I get that my car guzzles gas. I get that my life has an impact on others. But we can all, and should all, do what we can.

Now if only we could get the poodle lady to "train" her dogs to pick up all those tossed straws...

 

[Dead2009]

As long as the hot cheese is safe, I'm fine with this

 

[larryz]

What about all of those plastic ponchos they are selling?

I think paper straws and reusable bags are a good idea btw.

Paper ponchos will be next, I guess... and paper ZipLoc bags... and paper credit cards... paper MagicBands...

 

[GoofGoof]

Less polluting fireworks!??!?! That's like saying the Army is shooting with less killing guns.

The solar farms are to keep the envioronmentalists off their back but they don't even make a dent in the overall carbon footprint and electrical usage of ALL of the Parks, Hotels and establishments on Disney properties. They would need a solar farm that is bigger than Walt Disney World in toto to balance out the electrical usage.

The Skyliner is limited in its capacity and STILL uses electricity. ....as does the monorail system.
And their buses STILL use diesel fuel as do the shuttles in the parking lot.

Disney is an environmental disaster.....but at least they are banning plastic straws.

The solar farm currently being built will cover about 10% of the electricity used at WDW. Whether that’s a dent or not is a matter of personal opinion. Seems like a pretty big step in the right direction to me.

WDW can and should do a lot more still, but calling it an environmental disaster is a bit dramatic. None of these things are expected to solve everything in one big leap, but they are all steps in the right direction.

 

[Nubs70]

So, If they are getting rid of hotel in-room plastics...does that mean the plastic cups they have in the rooms?
And does that mean that housekeeping will actually PROPERLY WASH the glasses in the rooms? Because those are filthy.

And what about the refillable cups that people pay so much money for. Once they are no longer refillable we have to buy more which causes Disney to use more plastics to make more cups that people will throw away eventually.

What about the paper cups in their hotel restaurants that people can only refill a few times. Then we have to throw them out.
What about all of the trees that are being killed to make those cups? They are not all 100% recycled.

If you're going to ban plastic because it's bad for the environment....then you have to ban EVERYTHING that can hurt the environment. That includes paper, soap, those jet flush toilets in the hotel rooms that waste water. Disney should limit the time people can spend in the shower because of water waste. Disney should not allow you to control your own room's thermostat because you could be using too much electricity with your air conditioner.

But what about food waste. Disney throws away so much food. All of the plants and animals that are killed to make the food we eat.
Shouldn't they ban meat products. And if they only allow vegetables then aren't we depriving the animals of their food source.

If Disney is going to go green...then they have to go all the way otherwise it's not making a difference.

Just asking for a friend.

But if we could just get government to manage every aspect of our lives, together we can make a difference.

 

[Genie_naughty_whispers]

I will be handing out plastic straws and plastic shopping bags on Main Street. I’ll be wearing pins and mickey ears. Password for the goods is “ziploc presents Splash Mountain”

 

[AEfx]

Adding "straws" to my Disney packing list........

Yup. Bigger fish to fry these days than to argue the merits of this (aside from the disability issue, which @the.dreamfinder pointed out).

So I'll just grab a few extra and throw them in the backpack for all the parks, not just AK.

 

[celluloid]

I have to give credit to Sea World and other Zoos and Aquariums who have been pushing this idea and educating on this idea for years. Way to go for Walt Disney World. I won't complain about this positive move in a correct direction. I hope Universal follows.

 

[Gitson Shiggles]

Think about the environmental impact of obtaining rare earth elements for the devices people use to proclaim how great it is that Disney is doing something about plastic straws.

 

[AEfx]

For about 10 minutes...

I have to give credit to Sea World and other Zoos and Aquariums who have been pushing this idea and educating on this idea for years...

Funny enough, from my childhood trips to Sea World, I remember two things - seeing Shamu, and those god-awful paper straws that were like sucking through little cardboard tubes and that awful taste of paper.