I think people will be much better off not using straw in the first place. Unless you are constantly drinking soda,, which is not good for teeth anyway. If you have disability, then of course this not apply.

Do you find a lot of success telling people how to live their lives?

Have you tried Phade? They’re pretty much the same as regular plastic straws, albeit slightly more brittle

My kids use silicon straws. You can take them apart, wash them, put them together again and they work ok.

We use metal and glass, and they also work fine.

Silicon? That sounds really dangerous—what if it shatters while it's in their mouth? Are you sure you don't mean silicone?

If you're a bar or restaurant, please invest in metal, re-usable straws instead of humiliating your paying clients with paper ones. I just don't understand why a place that charges $50 or more for a dinner would do something like this.

Probably health regulations and existing infrastructure.

They have an Industrial Dishwasher. It's pretty good at blasting dishes, bowls, plates, cups, utensils, etc, things with all their surfaces easily exposed and no narrow inner areas, with hot water and a bit of chemicals like detergents to get things clean. Maybe it's some other device for smaller faster loads.

Cleaning a straw properly, _drying_ it properly. That sounds like a giant pain. Potentially a massive liability. (Detergents stuck in the straw? Someone's food and diseases not cleaned properly?)

I could see Silicone straws maybe working, but not as well in a lot of respects. They'd need a specialized cleaning process. Maybe boil in water with something to force (and measure) water flow through them. Then transfer to a baking chamber to dry and sanitize with heat. This sounds labor and energy intensive. Just gut instinct, I'm pretty sure it'd be cheaper to use some of that industrial compostable plastic to make a plastic straw. If some paper straw that didn't suck (as outlined in my other post) were used instead that'd be OK too.