Posted on 06/20/2019 10:32:10 AM PDT by Rio
With just a few hours to spare before I needed to head to the airport, I opened Google Maps on my phone and thought something I hadn’t thought in many years: “OK, I need to find a McDonald’s.”
I was in Taiwan last month, having spent a week visiting various machinery manufacturers. I wasn’t on the hunt for a Big Mac or a little taste of America before I hopped on a plane; I was chasing down a potential story tip.
A conversation the day before about single use plastics with Andy Lu, a smart machinery marketing expert from the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, had sent me on this chase.
“McDonald’s in Taipei have already gotten rid of straws,” he said, casually.
“What?” I responded, surprised.
“They have a whole marketing campaign that translates to ‘kiss the cup.’ Like you kiss the drink instead of using the straw,” he said. “It started a couple of weeks ago.”
Taiwan has plans to phase out many single use plastics, and that includes straws. It seems like one of the biggest restaurants in the world wanted to get a head start on the action.
I found a nearby McDonald’s and walked in. Sure enough, people were carrying around cups with polypropylene lids that sort of resembled sippy cups for babies. I got in line and ordered a Coke.
While waiting for the order, I noticed an empty straw dispenser with Chinese characters on it. According to Google Translate, it read: “I have retired the straw box. Kiss. Drink directly from cold drinks. Love the Earth together and don’t take a straw.” Plastics News photo by Jeremy Carroll
An empty straw dispenser near the counter at a McDonald's in Taiwan. It reads: “I have retired the straw box. Kiss. Drink directly from cold drinks. Love the Earth together and don’t take a straw.”
I got my drink and headed to an open seat. That’s when I noticed that every table had similar messaging on it. They had obviously gone all in on abandoning straws.
The lid had a simple pull tab that lodged into place, creating an opening to drink. I nervously took a sip. It came out of the lid just fine. Why was I nervous? I looked around and dozens of people were sipping from their drinks.
I did what any good journalist would do when you stumble upon something like this: I immediately texted my editor. Of course Don Loepp considered an angle that hadn’t occurred to me just yet – what exactly is going to happen to all these lids? You can’t recycle straws, can you recycle these? Will these just end up as litter? Plastics News photo by Jeremy Carroll
I looked over at the trash bins and sure enough, there were a few different areas to separate items. They designated a spot simply for the lids. I peeked inside, and sure enough, it’s just full of lids and nothing else. No cross contamination with burger wrappers or French fry boxes.
As I walked out, I realized this is our future. This will be every fast food restaurant in America some day. It won’t be this year, or maybe in the next couple of years. But it’s coming. Plastic straws will largely be phased out. And guess what? It’s OK. They’ll be replaced by recyclable PP lids. And the industry and environment will be better for it.
I don’t tend to use straws.
Well, except when drinking beer. Duh.
Put that drink in your car’s cup holder, hit a bump and watch the liquid come out all over your car. Straws work significantly better than a hole in the lid for managing the liquid in the cup.
First world problems.
Carry your own plastic crazy straw.
Kind of like a coffee cup lid. That’s okay. When I eat in, I don’t use a straw or even a lid. Just like at home. If I take it out, I like a straw. What are they doing about shakes? I can’t see sucking a shake through that spout.
Yeah. Leftism breeds nitwits.
Plastic spoons ... obviously.
Good point. The only drink I use a straw with is milkshakes. Fortunately I only have one every few years.
Is discarding the lid any different from discarding the straw?
I was able to turn the barrel of an old .22 rifle into six straws. Heavy and reusable. :)
Amazon sells stainless steel straws. We never leave home without them. Have used them for years. I am not a rabid environmentalist but I do believe that we polute too much. I try to do my part in cleaning up other liberals messes. I let them know too. I scolded a state Rep once for throwing a MacDonalds bag out of the window. I stopped and picked it up. I knew where she was going. Our state reps have vanity license plates so it was easy to track her down. She is a local democrat and every time I see her I ask if she’s been to MacDonalds lately. It’s our secret.
“We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good” - Hillary Clinton
Great. Start with yourself.
My kid came home with a plastic bag full of metal straws. After pointing out the plastic bag, I asked how she would clean it. She had a modified pipe cleaners in another plastic bag (more waste). Each straw was used once and I haven’t seen her clean them yet. Mind you getting her to do any dishes is like pulling teach. Smh
Maybe. Seems like six of one and a half dozen of the other, as far as trash goes.
Another non-solution from liberalandia.
“I can’t see sucking a shake through that spout.”
You made me realize I haven’t had a shake in years. I need to fix that.
I remember when America used to make machinery.
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