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Comment by TeaDrunk | Hacker News Reader

A significant inquiry I have to this in general is what should we do for people for which single-use plastics are exceptionally necessary for their lives? For example, people with disabilities who cannot manage paper straws (due to their collapsing before a drink can be consumed) or metal straws (due to mental strain in keeping track of their cleaning)?

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The actual announcement says that Canada will ban "harmful" single-use plastics. I’d assume single use plastics that are absolutely required for safety and medical purposes would not be considered harmful.

OK Thanks!

Have you ever used a paper straw? It takes ages for it to dissolve so for most people, event the disabled ones, it is not a problem.

I personally don't have a problem but I know people who take a very long time to drink stuff.

No, they suck. They get soggy after a few minutes. I’d rather not use a straw at all.

Which brings me to my main point. The “paper straws” movement isn’t actually anti-climate-change or pro-ecology, but just virtue signalling. If it was real, they wouldn’t be advocating paper straws, they’d be advocating no straws at all! Hint: you don’t need a straw (the vast majority of people anyways).

Maybe the end goal of paper straw advocates really is that. If the only straws available are shitty ones, more people might prefer to go strawless.

Why do the majority of people need to use a straw anyway?

Paper straws can be a choking hazard for some.

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