News Disney removing plastic straws and more by mid-2019

[Lensman]

This reminds me of the old glass vs. plastic vs. Aluminuim argument.

You can find pro's and cons/opinions on any environmental issue . Just depends on what side of the fence you are on. And as they say, follow the money.

OMG! Is the American Paper Institute behind this?!?!? CONSPIRACY ALERT!!!

 

[Gitson Shiggles]

 

[DisneyGentlemanV2.0]

So when this whole no straw thing is done I’d really like to see the next trend be to eliminate ice.

I'm waiting for the call for non-carbonated drinks to reduce their carbon footprint.

Then we can ban legumes.

Just remember that every time you release gas, you are doing your part to destroy the environment!

 

[GoofGoof]

I'm waiting for the call for non-carbonated drinks to reduce their carbon footprint.

Then we can ban legumes.

Just remember that every time you release gas, you are doing your part to destroy the environment!

Methane gas is actually a lot more harmful greenhouse gas than CO2. Agriculture accounts for about 20% of greenhouse gases (which is more than cars) and that doesn’t even account for the rain forests being leveled to make room for more cattle. One of the carbon offset programs that is out there is for cattle ranchers to mix in feed that makes the cows less gassy. They actually get paid to cut down on cow flatulence.

By posting this I am in no way proposing that Disney ban meat from their parks. Just sharing a useless fact.

 

[AEfx]

"Carbon Off-set Programs" = "a sucker born every minute" LOL

 

[DisneyGentlemanV2.0]

"Carbon Off-set Programs" = "a sucker born every minute" LOL

As is the green inititive in hotels that actually save the company cleaning costs. The green ends up in their pockets.

 

[EscapetoWDW]

Other than what’s mentioned above, think about how many times you have an array of plastic bags that you don’t need, maybe they contained 1 item, maybe the grocery store double bagged your milk.. may a take out restaurant have you a bag when you already had a container.. now multiple those bags by 300million..
Reusable bags are one of the most easiest ways to help out.. it’s not an inconvenience at all.

Look, I’m far from a hippy or a global warming nut... but some things are just common sense and so easy to implement. You can literally save millions of bags per year by using reusable or declining a plastic bag when you don’t really need one.
Same with reusable drink mugs with reusable straws.(for the people who must have a straw ..I’m one of these when we’re talking iced coffee). It’s not as difficult as everyone is making it sound.

It only takes a couple of weeks to learn a new habit - like taking reusable bags to the store.

 

[Lensman]

As is the green inititive in hotels that actually save the company cleaning costs. The green ends up in their pockets.

In some cases it's a win-win. I've gotten extra hotel points or a credit on incidentals.

I never really understood the idea of getting new towels and sheets every day. Does anyone really do that at home?

I've actually had mixed luck in getting them to leave the old towels. I seem to always get new ones every day no matter what I do. Note: I pay attention because at the mid-market hotels I stay at for work the towels are of varying softness so I always pick out the best one on the first night. But as housekeeping replaces the one that I use every day, I end up with rougher and rougher towels each day of my stay unless I luck out and the new one is soft. First world problems.

 

[Lensman]

"Carbon Off-set Programs" = "a sucker born every minute" LOL

I'm not a fan of buying them myself, but I don't see why it's a suckers bet? I figure it's like the people who buy the $1 "food for the poor" coupons at the grocery. It's just a way of people contributing to charities in ways that they think are appropriate.

That said, you do have to be careful and should research to make sure that the vendor is passing along your money to high quality projects.

As I said before, I prefer to do more personally by using my capital to invest in energy savings at home plus we're saving up for rooftop PV.

 

[AEfx]

I'm not a fan of buying them myself, but I don't see why it's a suckers bet? I figure it's like the people who buy the $1 "food for the poor" coupons at the grocery. It's just a way of people contributing to charities in ways that they think are appropriate.

That said, you do have to be careful and should research to make sure that the vendor is passing along your money to high quality projects.

As I said before, I prefer to do more personally by using my capital to invest in energy savings at home plus we're saving up for rooftop PV.

The immediate concern is what you said - how you have to very, very thoroughly investigate where the money actually goes, as so many of them only a small portion (if any) actually goes where it is supposed to. Just because something is "non-profit", people forget what that really means (the company itself doesn't turn a profit, but they can still pay millions out to the people who work/run it).

If it makes people feel better, so be it - but that's really the purpose of them, to give people something to feel good about (or from another perspective, play on their guilt). If people really want to make meaningful difference, stop or greatly reduce the actual "footprint" they are making instead of trying to make up for it after the fact. Do both!

 

[Lensman]

If it makes people feel better, so be it - but that's really the purpose of them, to give people something to feel good about (or from another perspective, play on their guilt). If people really want to make meaningful difference, stop or greatly reduce the actual "footprint" they are making instead of trying to make up for it after the fact. Do both!

At least it's better than spending your money on gold plated faucets or toilets.

 

[MrPromey]

I thought they would just offer those extra big plastic straws with every drink to attract all the paper straw haters who are done with Disney now.

Actually, what Universl already offers is freestyle machines with reusable cups and straws that offer unlimited refills per day at a reasonable price.

You can buy a paper cup with a disposable plastic straw but if you’re going to be in a park all day, those refillable cups offer more variety, more drink, and are better all around for the environment at a lower consumer cost.

Disney would lose money if they switched to that kind of thing, though, so they’ll be sticking with the plastic soda bottles.

Funny enough, they use the exact same technology Universal does to police this but in their hotel resorts, to sell you a disposable paper cup with a plastic lid (and for now) a plastic straw for the purpose of limiting your drink refills.

Sure, there might be some small impact to the environment that comes out of all of this with the straws (probably not the bags) and sure, something good is better than nothing good at all - I don’t think anyone is saying that isn’t the case - but it’s obvious, Disney’s working an angle, here, and milking it for all they can.

Nothing wrong with them doing it, I guess but I also don’t think there’s anything wrong with calling them on it, either.

 

[MrPromey]

It only takes a couple of weeks to learn a new habit - like taking reusable bags to the store.

Yeah. Tourists taking reusable bags to a theme park for souvenir shopping seems like a bit of a stretch, though...

Of course, that’s why Disney will be there to sell reusable totes!

Wonder how many families will end up leaving in their hotel room, or going home with, half a dozen of those after a week stay?

 

[GoofGoof]

"Carbon Off-set Programs" = "a sucker born every minute" LOL

Depends on the program. I work in the energy industry and I’ve seen good and bad. There are reputable companies who will sell carbon offsets to individuals and there are reputable programs for large scale projects to receive funding from the sale of offsets. The reputable programs have a pretty robust system to ensure compliance. I agree it’s not easy for a consumer to know if the program is legit or just a scam. You really have to rely on the reputation of the company selling you the offsets.

 

[GoofGoof]

Actually, what Universl already offers is freestyle machines with reusable cups and straws that offer unlimited refills per day at a reasonable price.

You can buy a paper cup with a disposable plastic straw but if you’re going to be in a park all day, those refillable cups offer more variety, more drink, and are better all around for the environment at a lower consumer cost.

Disney would lose money if they switched to that kind of thing, though, so they’ll be sticking with the plastic soda bottles.

Disney could sell refillable mugs for the parks too. I’m not sure people would want to have to carry the mugs around, but it could work. The biggest issue is you have a lot of carts and kiosks around the park where it’s easy to sell bottled drinks in a bin filed with ice. They would need to run water lines to each location to install a fountain. I did notice at Universal that the refill stations are spread out and they still sold bottled drinks at carts so maybe that’s the compromise.

 

[MrPromey]

Disney could sell refillable mugs for the parks too. I’m not sure people would want to have to carry the mugs around, but it could work. The biggest issue is you have a lot of carts and kiosks around the park where it’s easy to sell bottled drinks in a bin filed with ice. They would need to run water lines to each location to install a fountain. I did notice at Universal that the refill stations are spread out and they still sold bottled drinks at carts so maybe that’s the compromise.

I don’t think the carrying around the parks thing is much of a problem at Universal so I don’t think it would be at Disney, either but I see two problems for Disney:

1) they would need to invest in the machines around the parks. I could see them not going the freestyle route and instead doing what a lot do McDs are doing where they have stations that are sort of like that but with much more limited options.

That way, each one could give the same variety of drinks they’d get out of a typical fountain row and improve guest throughput by having multiple stations (above Universal’s typical pairs) with fewer options for people to stand there and consider while others wait.

2) They’ve already got a good refillable mug racket going at the resorts that this would potentially screw up.

Guests would (reasonably) expect those mugs to work at these stations in the parks.

Right now Disney enjoys selling them those mugs for the resorts where they don’t spend most of their time while selling the bottles and paper cups to the same people in the parks. All that extra revenue from the double-dipping would be lost if they implemented a system like this.

Overall, it would cost them money and make them less. Even with an improvement in guest satisfaction, I think they would have to be pretty desperate or at risk of falling victim to societal pressure before they would go this route.

The fact that Universal has offered this for years now and Disney hasn’t shows that they feel no competitive pressure at all to do so.

 

[Gitson Shiggles]

Yeah. Tourists taking reusable bags to a theme park for souvenir shopping does seem like a bit of a stretch, though... Of course, that’s why Disney will be there to sell reusable totes... wonder how many families will end up leaving in their hotel room, or going home with, half a dozen of those after a week stay?

My family visited the Disney Store today. We didn’t bring the reusable bag we just bought a couple of weeks ago, because why are we going to bother? The $0.99/bag isn’t enough to entice us to “remember” them.

Btw, the Disney Store reusable bags come in two sizes. Ask for the large bag, if you want one. It’s the same price as the other size.

 

[MrPromey]

My family visited the Disney Store today. We didn’t bring the reusable bag we just bought a couple of weeks ago, because why are we going to bother? The $0.99/bag isn’t enough to entice us to “remember” them.

Btw, the Disney Store reusable bags come in two sizes. Ask for the large bag, if you want one. It’s the same price as the other size.

And that’s the mindset I’m sure they expect to see play out in the parks. I doubt those totes will only be $.99 there, though.

Really it’s win-win-win for them.

If they can convert a free plastic bag user into a tote buyer with little other option, they make money.

If you forget to bring your tote to the park the next day, they get to sell you another one.

If you do bring your tote back the next day, they already have you thinking about buying more souvinners before you even leave your hotel room so you are primed to spend more from the get-go.

It’s genius.

 

[s8film40]

I don’t think the carrying around the parks thing is much of a problem at Universal so I do t think it would be at Disney, either but I see two problems for Disney:

1) they would need to invest in the machines around the parks. I could see them not going the freestyle route and instead doing what a lot do McDs are doing where they have stations that are sort of like that but with much more limited options.

That way, each one could give the same variety of drinks they’d get out of a typical fountain row and improve guest throughout by having multiple stations (above Universal’s typical pairs).

2) They’ve already got a good refillable mug racket going at the resorts that this would potentially screw up.

Guests would (reasonably) expect those mugs to work at these stations in the parks.

Right now Disney enjoys selling them those mugs for the resorts where they don’t spend most of their time while selling the bottles and paper cups to the same people in the parks. All that extra revenue from the double-dipping would be lost if they implemented a system like this.

Overall, it would cost them money and make them less. Even with an improvement in guest satisfaction, I think they would have to be pretty desperate or at risk of falling victim to societal pressure before they would go this route.

The fact that Universal has offered this for years now and Disney hasn’t shows that they feel no competitive pressure at all to do so.

Universal has freestyle at the parks and the resorts it’s seperate, so yeah they manage to make the double dipping work.

Disney could easily just expand what they do at the resort to the parks. And of course make them two separate systems.

 

[GoofGoof]

I don’t think the carrying around the parks thing is much of a problem at Universal so I do t think it would be at Disney, either but I see two problems for Disney:

1) they would need to invest in the machines around the parks. I could see them not going the freestyle route and instead doing what a lot do McDs are doing where they have stations that are sort of like that but with much more limited options.

That way, each one could give the same variety of drinks they’d get out of a typical fountain row and improve guest throughout by having multiple stations (above Universal’s typical pairs).

2) They’ve already got a good refillable mug racket going at the resorts that this would potentially screw up.

Guests would (reasonably) expect those mugs to work at these stations in the parks.

Right now Disney enjoys selling them those mugs for the resorts where they don’t spend most of their time while selling the bottles and paper cups to the same people in the parks. All that extra revenue from the double-dipping would be lost if they implemented a system like this.

Overall, it would cost them money and make them less. Even with an improvement in guest satisfaction, I think they would have to be pretty desperate or at risk of falling victim to societal pressure before they would go this route.

The fact that Universal has offered this for years now and Disney hasn’t shows that they feel no competitive pressure at all to do so.

I don’t see Disney ever going to an all refillable mug program and elimination of bottle sales. They haven’t done that at Universal either. When I was there in March there were plenty of people (me included) buying bottles of water. I also think the dynamic is different between the 2 resorts. At Disney you are more of a captive customer forced to buy from them. At Universal half the eating establishments are at City Walk and are 3rd party vendors and it’s so convenient to leave one of the parks and walk over to City Walk. No buses or picking up your car.

On the mug program they could sell all inclusive mugs that work at the resorts and parks. Just at a higher price. It’s doable economically to make a profit but I think the bigger challenge is the logistics and cost of setting up all those locations in the parks.