Those wind turbines and electric cars don't look so eco-friendly now....

In general, products tend to be labelled with place of origin, but then you need packaging.

It's like the plastic straws, they used images of marine wildlife containing plastic which resulted in the hospitality sector ditching one use plastic straws literally overnight. They said on some of the beaches, plastic straws accounted for as much as 9% of the plastic waste, but by weight, the plastic from the straws was considerably lower, however the 9% hit a nerve with the public.

The question is, are the non plastic and biodegradable plastic straws come with other environmental issues.

Assessment of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in commercially available drinking straws using targeted and suspect screening approaches: Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A: Vol 40 , No 9 - Get Access (tandfonline.com)

Researchers came to the conclusion that if you wanted to make an impact, then you shouldn't use straws at all. Even though there are reusable straws on the market where plastic is not used, the energy footprint to produce them is far greater, with the conclusion that a reusable plastic straw would probably be more beneficial to the environment than the non plastic ones.

 

Paper straws are absolutely fine for most uses... really don't see the point of using plastic for them. Same with cotton buds which seems absolutely silly that we used them for so long and from a plastic box.

 

There lies the issue though, to make paper straws water repellent Perfluoro-octanoic Acid is added during manufacturing. They call these PFAS that come from a group of chemicals, "forever chemicals" due to how they resist degradation. Nothing wrong with paper straws, but when these PFAS are added then they are issues. By looking at alternatives than plastic for packaging etc etc, has it resulted in more of these potent chemicals being used.

It Turns Out Paper Straws Might Pose a Serious Problem Too : ScienceAlert

It must be causing major concerns as the EU are proposing banning and restricting many of these PFAS

PowerPoint-Präsentation (europa.eu)

 

I tend to agree, but I can remember buying veg from an open fronted shop in the high st years ago, people had a feel of the cabbages, sorted through the carrots, sneezed and coughed and anything else people got up to in those days, but we survived.

I cant see the problem with plastic, other than so called single use plastic, its a very useful material in which the fact that it lasts years seems to be its downfall instead of its advantage.

 

This place obviously isn't struggling for workers.
Fruit farm signs massive £750m deal with supermarket

 

I probably use four paper straws a month...if you consider all the awful pollution we breathe don't feel particularly perturbed @gks with the forever chemicals being present. The modern world is toxic for all of us, and it's unfortunately unavoidable exposure to most of it, no matter how hard we try.

 

Last time I used a straw I was about 10 yrs old and drinking a Vimto, I really don't like the things and cant see why people use them unless they have some health reason to be doing so.

 

We haven't used straws in our house for decades, not since Possum outgrew those little packs of apple juice that come with a straw.

However, i've been watching my Geof Hamilto DVDs whilst sewing a patchwork quilt and, on one of them, is a beginner gardener who's quite clever with clematis cuttings cos she didn't know anyone who told her they're difficult. She just took cuttings, put them in a pot of compost, watered then covered with a plastic bag held in place with a rubber band and then used a straw, slipped under the band, to blow in air and inflate the bag to keep it off the foliage.

I shall be buying some straws.

 

I am the same, the tips in Morrisons have been £16 per kilo. Yet, today in Aldi, British asparagus tips were 59p per 100g today.