Britain to ban sale of plastic straws in bid to fight waste - Sensationalist Headlines

Or the government can ban it, and stop fucking around

Or the government could tax them really highly to give an incentive for businesses to stop while also generating revenue that can go into environmental protection services, and have the market solve it.

Uh. Costs to the corporations are costs to the consumer. They generally get passed on. "How you think" is wrong in this case, you simply don't understand any of this.

Unfortunately (well, maybe not actually unfortunately, given that this is part of why regulated capitalism works pretty well), all costs are eventually passed on to the consumer. You can't stop that. A 3% tax on all producers == a 3% tax on consumers.

A ban is a pretty powerful incentive, and it works right away (relatively speaking)

Those coffee stirrer straws is pretty useful for easily drinking hot drinks in tiny sips.

Right, but if you apply a gradually higher tax to something before banning it it gives businesses a chance to adapt without small ones going bankrupt.

Going bankrupt? over straws? No, it actually just forces small businesses to push the added cost onto the consumer, while the larger ones can afford to keep things the same. Banning removes straws from the equation completely, no effect on small business vs big ones

If you think that small and large businesses are equally capable of eating a sudden loss in capital then you're nuts.

loss of capital... selling straws?

Ah shit, not capital, profit + materials. Not quite sure how I bungled that that badly.

how's that?

Can you please ask a more specific question

So why do you want businesses to be regulated then in this regard? You're just shoving the burden onto everyone, instead of the people actually consuming the product.

How can that possibly make any business lose money

Are you asking how forcing a business to throw out a bunch of stock and then buy new, more expensive stock could cost the business money?

or... not buy straws at all

Thank u for going back and rating every single one of my posts dumb after I had to spend six posts to explain the basic concept that buying new things costs money to you. Straws are an expense. If you are buying them, you're buying them for a reason, because it benefits your business in some way. If you want to talk about really harming a small business, let's talk about expecting a company that has 10 thousand of these to throw them all into the garbage. https://www.totallypromotional.com/media/totallypromotional/images/items/TCUP243/product/jpg/16oz-Soft-Sided-Clear-Cup-with-Lid-and-Straw-TCUP243-clear-2.jpg

... to be honest, that's the cost of doing business, they don't have to throw out truck loads here, and they definitely don't have to buy more. I rated your posts dumb because I finally got what you were trying to say, and that's what I thought

Oi guv, got a licence for that plastic straw? I don't see the point in straws. All I use them for is to slurp alcoholic drinks faster (Jim Beam 'n Coke)

what a non issue. most places I've been to in the past week have stopped offering plastic straws and now give cardboard/waxed paper straws from behind the counter. 'straws' aren't going anywhere, you just get marginally worse ones now.

While that's kinda silly couldn't people, I dunno, just do this? https://cdn-media-1.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2016/08/14235950/why-water-is-the-best-kept-beauty-secret.jpeg

the strongest trees grow with the wind against them https://www.superchuches.com/c/2003-sub-category/rojo.jpg

Unfortunately not everyone is physically able to do this comfortably, which is where straws come in very handy. And the thing about straws is they get disgusting fast, so single-use is extremely convenient for this section of the population.

I hope places start selling decent reusables then, I know folk with MS, dementia, rheumatism and they struggle with tasks like grasping glasses or cups to drink from, a straw is a basic requirement for their daily lives.

The number of people who legitimately need to use straws is, I imagine, very small. We'll need to think of ways to accommodate them for sure, but at the end of the day straws are polluting the environment, and most people can do without them.

Milkshakes just aren't right without straws

Personally I find it a bit dumb to punish the majority for something the minority abuses, but whatever. I know they're just looking for a quick cost-effective way to cut on pollution but this'll just inconvenience a lot of people. There's no real way to stop people from littering, hell fining people isn't enough because it's not enforced. I see people throwing McDonald bags out the window because there's no incentive NOT to, no evidence tying them be the litterer so nothing is done about it. So they'll just do it cuz they're lazy and don't want to find a garbage bin or take it home to dispose of. It's a dumb ban in my opinion but I'm sure it'll do a world of good, I think it's dumb personally because I know for a fact there's other ways around this, this is just the most cost effective option.

What? There is no "minority abusing straws." The problem is that everyone uses them and that a consequence of normal use of straws is an absurd amount of plastic waste. It's not just litterers - and in fact littering is becoming increasingly unpopular as people become more environmentally aware - the fact is there is nothing that the average person can do about what happens to their straw after they throw it in the trash.

Bans don't work, they're not going to search every single package coming in to this country for plastic straws. People are just going to have to take a plastic straw with them in future if they want one. Straws also only account for a small percentage of total plastic waste, what about plastic cups, takeaway containers, plastic coated cardboard, plastic wrappers and the huge amount of plastic consumer products we throw away each year, basically this is just a feel good measure that will have a very small impact rather than dealing with the real problems like our poor plastic recycling capacity and limited use of biodegradeable plastics. If the government really wanted to deal with plastic waste they'd do it properly, but of course our current government is too stingy for that.