BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
Because people are hurling Disney toys into the trash after one use. I guess I just imagined having Disney toys in my toy box my entire childhood.
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News Walt Disney World to eliminate self-service paper straws and plastic lids
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Smiley/OCD
Well-Known Member
And since you’re happy to agree with me, speak out against it NOT just the straws and lids.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I know you didn't! But you did say "NO ONE" on here would speak out against wasteful toy packaging because "it doesn't fit anyone's narrative", and I was just letting you know that that isn't true. I'm all for further initiatives to deal with the problem of plastics.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
Where and to whom do you want me to speak out against it? I'm not a campaigner. I'm simply responding to the news of Disney's removal of plastic straws and lids in a thread about Disney's removal of plastic straws and lids. If there were a thread announcing that Disney was reducing unnecessary toy packaging, I would gladly voice my approval there too.
Smiley/OCD
Well-Known Member
And I’m not talking about the substandard quality toys that we HOPE aren’t disposable… I’m talking about the packaging those inferior toys are sold in. If Poland Spring can reduce the amount of plastic used in their bottles (compare them to Desanti)…why can’t Disney reduce the amount of plastic used in their packaging WHICH CANNOT BR REUSED AND IS TOSSED…why? Because it doesn’t fit ANYONES NARRATIVE HERE. Buy toys, but don’t use straws…
Smiley/OCD
Well-Known Member
Plastic is plastic…if I can speak out against it, AND I SEEM TO BE SOLO on here, there’s nothing stopping you from speaking out too…I’m inviting you…
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
You, and everyone else here, can take it for granted that I fully support all efforts to reduce plastic waste, as I’ve already made abundantly clear anyway.
Smiley/OCD
Well-Known Member
I NEVER take ANYONE here for granted nor would I ever be accused in putting words in anyone’s mouth. I don’t want to assume, I want to hear you and all the other anti straw folks speak out against the packaging too. I honestly wonder how many straws we can make out of ONE of those clamshell packages…
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
This thread is about straws. People are talking about straws. I’ve never seen you speak out against [insert off topic, bad situation] so I’m going to start saying you don’t have a problem with [insert off topic, bad situation].
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
In other words, let’s do nothing!
TomboyJanet
Well-Known Member
I feel like one day they wont give us anything to eat with at all and they'll be like use your hands like Medieval Times
Maybe you should research where that plastic waste comes from that ends up in the oceans. Someone even posted a link earlier in the thread. How would straws at WDW end up clogging gutters and ending up in rivers, lakes, and streams? What are people using to eat a majority of food around the parks (like the near-year-round festivals at Epcot), their hands? Chop sticks? The US, and WDW in particular, isn’t the problem here but please carry on with your usual holier-than-thou schtick.
CastAStone
5th gate? Just build a new resort Bob.
This is exactly my issue. When the plastic saves money vs the alternative Disney is all to happy to jump on it. When the plastic costs money vs the alternative then it’s bad for the environment.
Let people have their dumb straws, make them out of paper or that weird green corn stuff, and go build another solar farm, Solar is cheaper than the grid anymore anyway.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Nobody said that. But provide lids and straws, whatever they need to be made of!
GhostHost1000
Premium Member
It turns out all those paper straws are bad for the environment too
The straws are likely not biodegradable, and are also vectors for chemicals considered hazardous to human and environmental health: study
nationalpost.com
Paper drinking straws may be harmful and may not be better for the environment than plastic versions
'Eco-friendly' paper drinking straws contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals, a new study has concluded.
www.sciencedaily.com
DisneyCane
Well-Known Member
The overwhelming majority of the plastic that ends up in the ocean comes from places like China and other Asian countries. Dumping plastic in the ocean has been banned in the US since 1972.
Yes, there will be some amount of litter from irresponsible people that ends up in waterways but not nearly the amount that justifies your statement above about "clogging" waterways. The litter will only persist if nobody cleans it out.
This obsession with "single use" plastics is creating a solution to an issue that doesn't really exist. There is not a lack of landfill space. The "single use" plastics can be recycled and not be single use anymore and they can also be burned in waste to energy plants which is probably the best thing to do with them.
If you are worried about "sustainability" then when the day arrives where we run out of petroleum to make the plastics with then the problem you see will solve itself.
Biodegradable plastics can be produced and there is no reason (other than cost) that Disney can't use straws and lids made from those materials in order to continue to provide a convenient guest experience.
Where does the "single use" line get drawn? Is the day coming where toilet paper is deemed unsustainable? The movement may not be successful but I can guarantee you that if the anti-plastics movement succeeds there will be an anti-toilet paper movement. "Activists" need a cause to advocate for. If they are successful with one, they don't just stop being "activists," they find a new cause.
jaklgreen
Well-Known Member
I like the straws that they have made from agave. Not only do they feel more like plastic and will last out your drink, but they also then use a byproduct that would have ended up in the landfill. In Asia, they are using coconut husks to make disposable plates and bowls, again using something that would have been thrown away. We need more of these types of products. The problem is that they cost a bit more and don't have the profit margin.
All of this comes down to greed. We have the ability and knowledge to live a greener life, but there is no money in it.
AEfx
Well-Known Member
Shhhh...logic and common sense have no place in this discussion - LOL.
Like a lot of similar "solutions", such as "reusable bags" (which have been proven to be useless, at best, if not worse, unless you reuse the same ones for 30-40 years for their environmental impact to even break even), they just exist as corporate money saving and/or "feel good" publicity, to dupe people into thinking they actually have anything to really do with the environment. They have fooled themselves into thinking "I'm doing my part!" by doing and supporting useless things because its clear no one is actually making any progress on the "big things" that actually need to be done, so it helps them go about their day feeling like they are some environmental champion.
It's sort of like when people cheer billions of dollars going into "green technologies" which is largely just subsidizing a lot of venture capital bros who are flying around on private jets and living the high life. There is a huge human capacity for self-deception and the power of the placebo.
Unless they are arriving at WDW by foot or by bicycle, I just can't take anyone seriously who travels to WDW and thinks that this is somehow of any impact whatsoever when just traveling there is thousands if not tens of thousands of times more impactful than consuming a few straws during the week, before they have even entered the gates.
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
WDW is actually moving to all e-tickets. AP's especially.
(Though phones are not without their own problems.)
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
So is continuously pitting us plebes one against each other over really trivial stuff like straws, when the REAL culprits are being ignored.
Mind, I tend to not use straws myself.
I was just at WDW though, and generally at most places we ate, the waitstaff at WDW restaurants dumped a pile of straws on our table without us asking for them, or asking if we wanted them. Even AFTER we did NOT use the first round of straws for our water, the staff STILL put another round of straws on our table when they brought additional drinks.
And then what? Because the table was wet, the straw wrappers were wet, and there's no way the straws can be given to anyone else.
Yet here we are debating straws.
It is MUCH easier to get mad downwards (scapegoating) than it is to get mad upwards, because people generally feel powerless against those who rank higher. It is easy to get all worked up over straws and plastic bags, because they are something tangible. (something specific we can hold). The real polluters LOVE to see us put all our energy into distractions like this!
There are much bigger fish to fry though.