Posted by Mondoman
a resident of Green Acres
on Feb 24, 2023 at 1:58 pm
Mondoman is a registered user.

Isn't the real issue not that people "forget" their reusable cups but rather that they don't want to have to deal with carrying, returning and washing reusable cups? The article seems to have left out what the penalty fee is for breaking or not returning one of the rental cups.

The phrasing in the sentence "According to street trash surveys, he said, the bulk of single-use plastic pollution comes from foodware items..." is strange and leads me to suspect that single-use plastic pollution is not a significant part of street trash overall, so the program is just more virtue-signalling.

Posted by Bystander
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Feb 24, 2023 at 5:44 pm
Bystander is a registered user.

I notice that Ricks Ice Cream is selling edible spoons for 50c. What a gimmick and do these spoons have to be kept in cool temperatures, clean environments, have sell by dates and all the other conditions in which food has to be kept!

The real attraction to disposable cups and containers is that you don't have to have something with you when you suddenly decide to buy lunch on a nice day, when you have bumped into a friend and want to sit and chat, when you have had a change of plans and need to get food in a hurry to eat while on your way to your new appointment. Many people don't carry huge backpacks containing reusables on the offchance they might be needed and not everyone is out and about by car. Even then, the reusables have to be taken into the house and run through the dishwasher and then returned to the car, two separate memory actions.

I am all for reducing the amount of single use, but there are times when I can say that they are indeed useful.