Reusing drinking straws

We too have dumped them. But a thought struck me since these days they come out with solid plastic why not retrieve them just as we wash everything else that we are using.

@Daljinder I agree with you that they are cheap. My thinking was what is the idea of giving that poor straw such bad treatment (lol)

@allknowing I think that since they are cheap and disposable, we tend to be careless about it...

Recycling is indeed a good idea. It need not be labour intensive. You just need to soak them in soap suds and then rinse them with clean water. Where does the question of hygene come here. The soap suds get inside and so does the clean eater.

@louievill This is just a thought because we retrieve every other item we use in our day to day activity. And some of these straws look so neat that just throwing them away somehow does not feel good.

@allknowing That is soup + water + labor + drying. I think modern factories can put out straw from virgin plastic materials cheaper. Straws should be food grade ( virgin plastic not recycled) and once they are used, they deteriorate plus the fact that we do not know if all the straws were actually used on food products alone, so sorting would be another problem. BTW some bacteria are also resistant to washing, there would also be hygienic concerns regarding people who will be handling the straws, too complex so better to just make new ones

Not all can be retrieved but there will be some like you and me who would give the straw a decent treatment (lol)

@allknowing i'd heat it to kill all the bacteria, but then it will melt

You have to tell me why. You must be talking of paper straws

@allknowing oh... Simply because I am lazy washing

@gofsey With the thought of recycling efforts are required even for the plastic straws, The poorer quality is not there any more.

You have no idea of the kind of straws that are available

@allknowing Ah! yes, these specially made straws might prove useful. However, I doubt if they will be like the disposable ones.

It is just a situation where rather than throwing away something that we can reuse specially what we get these days is of high quality.

@miniam Depends on what method you use.

@allknowing l dont see myself washing a straw to re-use, cost much more in the end

You could perhaps read some of my comments justifying the reuse of these straws.

Nowadays we get glass, stainless steel and plastic straws. And these I suppose could be retrieved - just a thought.

Glass straws need not be discarded anyway.

They are not biodegradable and so reusing them would help save our environment.