News Walt Disney World to eliminate self-service paper straws and plastic lids

[jaklgreen]

The reasoning why they are doing is is irrelevant. Do they care about their carbon footprint...maybe a little. Are they doing this to save money....absolutely. But it takes no effort at all to ask the person for a straw who is literally handing you your drink. I think that people are getting so conditioned to complain about everything Disney does these days that a non-starter like this is getting traction.

My issues with this is not really that we have to ask for lids, but that they will end up being "out" of them at most locations. I have worked in food for many years, I know the tactics. Plus as others have said, it is a slow drip of taking things away. When we start excusing it saying that is is "only" having to ask, or "only" paper straws that melt on you, that ends up being a lot of "onlys".
Where is the limit when you think that it is OK to complain about the things that they are taking away?

 

[jaklgreen]

I never drink with a straw but when I’m walking around a Disney park I like to have a lid on my drink so I don’t spill it and nothing falls in as I’m walking around (leaf, bubble, etc.)

I sometimes want to use a straw to stir an iced coffee or iced tea as well.

Speaking of tea…. Remember when fresh lemon was available at counter service restaurants!? Another cut!

I miss the plastic cheese so much! LOL Cheese fries where the best.

 

[LittleBuford]

This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but my guess is that this thread will read very strangely in five to ten years’ time, with most people wondering why there was so much opposition to something that is, by then, considered normal and sensible pretty much everywhere.

 

[lazyboy97o]

This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but my guess is that this thread will read very strangely in five to ten years’ time, with most people wondering why there was so much opposition to something that is, by then, considered normal and sensible pretty much everywhere.

If it is to be considered normal then the actual products need to change to ones for that intended use. The paper cups used today are designed to use a lid to maintain their rigidity.

 

[John park hopper]

Who dumps the most plastic into the ocean It ain't us

"World’s top 10 ocean plastic contributors

Based on a study by Science Advances in 2021, the Philippines is the leading country on the list of top 10 ocean plastic contributors – generating an estimated 356,371 MT of plastic waste in our ocean. This is followed by India (126,513 MT) Malaysia (73,098 MT), China (70,707 MT), Indonesia (56,333 MT), Myanmar (40,000 MT), Brazil (37,799 MT), Vietnam (28,221 MT), Bangladesh (24,640 MT), and Thailand (22,806 MT)2. The primary contributors to ocean plastic pollution are concentrated in developing Asian nations, with the exception of Brazil."

 

[Marionnette]

How about you show some research that backs your claim up that US plastic does not wind up in the ocean.

Where does the plastic in our oceans come from?

Which countries and rivers emit the most plastic to the ocean? What does this mean for solutions to tackle plastic pollution?

ourworldindata.org

That's not to say that absolutely zero plastics from the U.S. end up in the ocean. But it does provide evidence that the biggest plastics polluters are not who you would think. It also does not take into consideration that plastics from countries like the U.S., which export plastic for recycling, can end up in the ocean thanks to poor oversight in the countries those materials are sent to.

 

[Andrew C]

Who dumps the most plastic into the ocean It ain't us

"World’s top 10 ocean plastic contributors

Based on a study by Science Advances in 2021, the Philippines is the leading country on the list of top 10 ocean plastic contributors – generating an estimated 356,371 MT of plastic waste in our ocean. This is followed by India (126,513 MT) Malaysia (73,098 MT), China (70,707 MT), Indonesia (56,333 MT), Myanmar (40,000 MT), Brazil (37,799 MT), Vietnam (28,221 MT), Bangladesh (24,640 MT), and Thailand (22,806 MT)2. The primary contributors to ocean plastic pollution are concentrated in developing Asian nations, with the exception of Brazil."

i don’t think anyone here wants to see more plastic trash end up in the ocean. But I would be very surprised if that is where plastic lids at WDW are ending up.

 

[Dranth]

Who dumps the most plastic into the ocean It ain't us

"World’s top 10 ocean plastic contributors

Based on a study by Science Advances in 2021, the Philippines is the leading country on the list of top 10 ocean plastic contributors – generating an estimated 356,371 MT of plastic waste in our ocean. This is followed by India (126,513 MT) Malaysia (73,098 MT), China (70,707 MT), Indonesia (56,333 MT), Myanmar (40,000 MT), Brazil (37,799 MT), Vietnam (28,221 MT), Bangladesh (24,640 MT), and Thailand (22,806 MT)2. The primary contributors to ocean plastic pollution are concentrated in developing Asian nations, with the exception of Brazil."

Sure, but someone else doing worse isn't an excuse to do a bad job yourself. There really should be no plastic going into the ocean from the US at this point and shipping it to some other county, often a developing third world who has an extremally limited ability to deal with it, is a terrible practice states all over the country have been doing for decades.

Not coincidentally, most of the countries you listed were in the top destinations for US plastic waste. Basically, we send it elsewhere so they can "deal with it". They don't, at least not well, and a not insignificant chuck of it then ends up in the ocean.

 

[dreday3]

Sure, but someone else doing worse isn't an excuse to do a bad job yourself. There really should be no plastic going into the ocean from the US at this point and shipping it to some other county, often a developing third world who has an extremally limited ability to deal with it, is a terrible practice states all over the country have been doing for decades.

Not coincidentally, most of the courtiers you listed were in the top destinations for US plastic waste. Basically, we send it elsewhere so they can "deal with it". They don't, at least not well, and a not insignificant chuck of it then ends up in the ocean.

Exactly.

Do I think Disney is doing this for altruistic reasons? Probably not. But let's not go as far as pretending the US isn't a big contributor to environmental problems.

 

[Eric Graham]

You keep posting awesome solutions... that would eat into Disney's insane beverage profits.

Have you gone mad, man?!

I'm sure Disney will be doing just fine without a sprinkling of straws

 

[Eric Graham]

I don't recall them using straws, though, at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Saving Mr Banks.

 

[JD80]

I think that if you ask for a straw and get one you should also have to tip the CM 20%.

 

[Eric Graham]

I never drink with a straw but when I’m walking around a Disney park I like to have a lid on my drink so I don’t spill it and nothing falls in as I’m walking around (leaf, bubble, etc.)

I sometimes want to use a straw to stir an iced coffee or iced tea as well.

Speaking of tea…. Remember when fresh lemon was available at counter service restaurants!? Another cut!

Lemon in tea is the best, but they're so expensive for some reason at the grocery store...

 

[John park hopper]

If having a lid and a straw is that important bring a insulated cup with a lid and straw order your drink and pour it into your own cup and give the CM back their lidless cup

 

[Prince-1]

My issues with this is not really that we have to ask for lids, but that they will end up being "out" of them at most locations. I have worked in food for many years, I know the tactics. Plus as others have said, it is a slow drip of taking things away. When we start excusing it saying that is is "only" having to ask, or "only" paper straws that melt on you, that ends up being a lot of "onlys".
Where is the limit when you think that it is OK to complain about the things that they are taking away?

I agree that is an issue if they run out of staws/lids and that is a good reason to complain but that could happen if they kept them out in the open or if they keep them behind the counter. Either way is a bad look but to me it takes no effort to ask for a straw when I am picking up my food. And again, they aren't (for now at least) taking anything away just changing the procedure on how to get it.

 

[Prince-1]

Who dumps the most plastic into the ocean It ain't us

"World’s top 10 ocean plastic contributors

Based on a study by Science Advances in 2021, the Philippines is the leading country on the list of top 10 ocean plastic contributors – generating an estimated 356,371 MT of plastic waste in our ocean. This is followed by India (126,513 MT) Malaysia (73,098 MT), China (70,707 MT), Indonesia (56,333 MT), Myanmar (40,000 MT), Brazil (37,799 MT), Vietnam (28,221 MT), Bangladesh (24,640 MT), and Thailand (22,806 MT)2. The primary contributors to ocean plastic pollution are concentrated in developing Asian nations, with the exception of Brazil."

No one said we were the number one contributor to plastic being dumped in the ocean. What someone said which is demonstrably false is that it was a, "false premise that plastic from the US ends up in the ocean. It does not. Plastic from the US is not an issue at all." This was a laughable statement.

 

[AEfx]

If it is to be considered normal then the actual products need to change to ones for that intended use. The paper cups used today are designed to use a lid to maintain their rigidity.

That's why this is just so silly, and yet another way for a corporation to try to get social media points for being "green" when in effect, it's not going to mean a tinker's damn. It also feeds on this need people have to feel like they are "doing something, no matter how little!" (just look how righteous some folks are in this very thread) because they feel so helpless about the real problems; silly things like this help them ignore those. You see the same thing with electric cars and "reusable" shopping bags, both of which are either no better or in some cases worse than the "bad" thing they replace.

In this case, they are just going to go through more flimsy cups as people spill or they get crushed, and the only solution to that is to...add more plastic coating to them, which makes them much more difficult to breakdown/recycle themselves. The only other option is to use reusable glass or metal containers that people have to turn in, which then leads to them needing to be sanitized (chemicals) and wasteful of water, etc.

In any case, I'm getting a whiplash of deja vu from the last time they tried this (and the thread here that echoes this one quite nicely), where people start arguing about "why do you need ice anyway? I don't like ice in my drinks, I like them warm..." and the folks that don't realize that fountain soda isn't refrigerated (and if it was, more environmental impact from refrigerants), is formulated to be served with ice in these cups with lids, and all kinds of other bickering that avoids the point that like most times a company says they are doing something to "go green" they are lying through their teeth, it's just to save money or get social media points.

 

[Andrew C]

and the folks that don't realize that fountain soda isn't refrigerated

It is at MacDonald's. That is one of the reasons their soda tastes so dang good!

 

[Mireille]

This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but my guess is that this thread will read very strangely in five to ten years’ time, with most people wondering why there was so much opposition to something that is, by then, considered normal and sensible pretty much everywhere.

But I want my incandescent bulbs that use more energy and burn out more frequently! I thought this was Amurrica!

 

[Drdcm]

I used to be a lifeguard in the great lakes (Ontario specifically) and the number one plastic pollution we found on the beach from the water was tampon casings, and next was shotgun shell wads. The wads made sense because of duck hunting and stuff, but the tampons never made sense. I’m talking like 1000s a day would wash up after a storm.