Yeah, silicone is in a weird spot where it’s kinda a plastic and kinda rubber.
But that’s less important because they aren’t single use. You’re going to use them time and again.
Same reason I never felt bad about buying the “single use” plastic grocery bags from Aldi that they’ve discontinued - I still have ones from my first visit to an Aldi that I continue to reuse.
Despite very limited usage, metal straws have caused major injuries including fatalities. Turns out having a metal stick pointed at all sorts of sensitive soft tissue is a risk.
Meanwhile, if using your own straw with a restaurants disposable cup, hardly helps since the cup is still being waste. If using it with reusable cups, it won’t save you from any sanitation issues, since the drink is right in contact with the container. It may be useful for sanitation reasons with a can, but again, the can is disposable. Even if you recycle it, the coating on the inside and the paint on the outside probably are about as much as the plastic straw you spared.
Well, no, just I’m personally apprehensive. I can’t find a story about someone getting killed while using a fork, I can find that about metal straws. I’d personally favor just drinking straight from a cup with my mouth, or a reusable flexible straw if the beverage were something like a milkshake.
Don’t forget about reporting bias. You’re more likely to find stories about Metal straw deaths because metal straws are not common. So when it does happen it’s considered news, just like how you’re going to see reports about almost every single EV fire and yet hundreds of cars Catch Fire every day and you almost never hear about that. Hell you’ve probably driven by a standard gasoline engine fire more than once in your life and thought very little of it
I use my own metal straw and it works great
We have those at home too and they’re the only straws I use. They just feel premium in a way.
There is a learning curve with metal straws, if you only used plastic / paper. I hit my teeth so often with the metal one when I first got it.
Ours have little silicone bits on the end to use as a mouthpiece to prevent that. We also have some silicone straws which work fine.
Silicone is a type of plastic (kind of)
One piece of silicon that will last thousands of uses vs entire straw of single use plastic each time.
Yeah, you’re definitely correct that it’s better than single use plastics, but silicone has the potential to leach into liquids.
And to be clear, single use plastic straws have more of a risk of leaching than silicone. Stainless steel does not have this risk.
Yeah, silicone is in a weird spot where it’s kinda a plastic and kinda rubber.
But that’s less important because they aren’t single use. You’re going to use them time and again.
Same reason I never felt bad about buying the “single use” plastic grocery bags from Aldi that they’ve discontinued - I still have ones from my first visit to an Aldi that I continue to reuse.
Sounds like Germ City to me tbh. Straws are bad enough already without nooks and crannies
Idk about theirs, but my silicone bits are removable. You take them off before you wash them.
Despite very limited usage, metal straws have caused major injuries including fatalities. Turns out having a metal stick pointed at all sorts of sensitive soft tissue is a risk.
Meanwhile, if using your own straw with a restaurants disposable cup, hardly helps since the cup is still being waste. If using it with reusable cups, it won’t save you from any sanitation issues, since the drink is right in contact with the container. It may be useful for sanitation reasons with a can, but again, the can is disposable. Even if you recycle it, the coating on the inside and the paint on the outside probably are about as much as the plastic straw you spared.
What about forks?
Either is a risk if actively walking. Straw is more likely to be used on the move. I get self conscious about even carrying forks or knives on stairs.
So the risk is about as high as holding a fork while walking, which is pretty much negligible?
Well, no, just I’m personally apprehensive. I can’t find a story about someone getting killed while using a fork, I can find that about metal straws. I’d personally favor just drinking straight from a cup with my mouth, or a reusable flexible straw if the beverage were something like a milkshake.
Don’t forget about reporting bias. You’re more likely to find stories about Metal straw deaths because metal straws are not common. So when it does happen it’s considered news, just like how you’re going to see reports about almost every single EV fire and yet hundreds of cars Catch Fire every day and you almost never hear about that. Hell you’ve probably driven by a standard gasoline engine fire more than once in your life and thought very little of it