Straws

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Say goodbye to the straws for your boba drinks, Californians! A bill was proposed in early 2018 that would make it illegal for restaurant servers to give guest plastic straws unless requested ($1,000 fine or jail time attached). I thought this was especially important to talk about because the problem with straws is not that anything like it was costing too much for people to produce or buy. The issues of producing and consuming straws are the externalities it causes. The pollution is a negative externality (hence, the effect imposes a negative effect on those affected). Over the past year, straw production has been under fire as pictures of wildlife, suffering the effects of straws, became extremely popular on the internet. For example, sea turtles had straws lodged in their nostrils -- making it difficult for them to function on a daily basis!

 Bubble tea stores and other drink vendors may suffer the casualties of banning plastic straws. Hundreds of bubble tea stores must find alternative ways to replace stars to avoid fines. The fines can range up to $100 to $500 per violation (per straw!). Switching to paper straws has been presented. However; buying straws are much more expensive in comparison to plastic straws. On average, a plastic straw costs around 3 cents while a paper straw hovers around 19 cents each. This may cause the price of boba to drive up in the future, testing a consumers willingness to buy boba at a higher price. A regular at a bubble tea shop in San Francisco says that any price increase more than 10 cents may have him rethinking his boba drinking habits.

 Although the short term effects on these owners may seem great, the externalities that greatly affect the tidiness and well-being of our world is greater. How do you think we should tackle this issue?

 Sources:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2018/01/29/plastic-straws-illegal-unless-requested-under-california-bill/1074610001/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/06/disposable-america/563204/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/08/03/2-straw-plastic-ban-may-cost-san-francisco-boba-shops/873009002/
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi4praXlvngAhV1OX0KHZg1CSkQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FHiware-200-Pack-Biodegradable-Paper-Straws%2Fdp%2FB07D7L5Z85&psig=AOvVaw38SqVUZ0V9CeNM8AcreBg9&ust=1552362251145699

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 13, 2019 at 12:09 AM

    Nice post Anny! I remember hearing about this controversy. In mid 2018, Starbucks drew attention, due to having, "announced it will eliminate single-use plastic straws from its more than 28,000 company operated and licensed stores by making a strawless lid or alternative-material straw options available, around the world." This isn't the first time California has imposed In the summer of 2014, California imposed a statewide ban on plastic bags. This meant that stores were banned from giving out "single-use plastic bags". People then began to bring their own reusable shopping bags with them while shopping. If someone didn't bring a personal bag, there would be a, "required a 10-cent minimum charge for recycled paper bags, reusable plastic bags, and compostable bags at certain locations." Similar to straws, plastic bags can be harmful to animals, oceans/rivers, and other forms of wildlife. This ban was important to reduce and hopefully eliminate the dangers associated with these plastic items.

    Sources:
    https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2018/starbucks-to-eliminate-plastic-straws-globally-by-2020/

    http://www.ncsl.org/research/environment-and-natural-resources/plastic-bag-legislation.aspx

    ReplyDelete

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