Paper straws? Plastic straws?

I hate the new-styled paper straws that are increasingly becoming the only option in some fast-food restaurants (or cities or states?).

I haven't always hated paper straws, though. I loved the paper straws we had back when I was a teenager. I could pinch one end of the straw, poke holes in it, and play music on it, a la an oboe or some other double-reed woodwind. Actually I was distressed emotionally (0.0003 on a scale of 10.0) when plastic straws began to dominate the straw market. 

 

But over the years, I adjusted. I coped.

 

In 2007, I saw and used some straws at a place in Guelph, and I really liked them, so I called the straw manufacturer (Stone something) to see about buying several boxes of them. They pointed me to a distributor, where I stopped to pick up three boxes. I still have nearly two boxes of them left. 

Meanwhile all of the paper straws I'm seeing on the market nowadays are horrid:

• They fall apart when I try to use them with coffee, and
• They're thick and cannot be squeezed into pretend double-reed musical instruments. 

So now I stock up for the future whenever I'm in a fast food place with plastic straws -- I take one to add to my stash, just in case I outlive my current supply.

 

But TBH I still don't get the aversion to plastic straws. They use very small amounts of plastic (considerably less than is in so many other products, e.g. ready meals at the supermarkets), which can easily be added to landfill sites. And the primary reason plastic straws and other plastic waste finds its way to the oceans has to do with recyclers selling the plastics to companies and places that are less scrupulous about making sure not to pollute the oceans.

 

Actually, I think the aversion to (and the movement to ban) plastic straws is a symbolic gesture by people who love to criticize consumerism and convenience -- modern day stoics, ascetics, Victorians, etc.