Remember when most “to-go” coffee came in convenient, insulated foam cups? Remember when McDonald’s served food in foam clamshells that kept your meal nice and warm? Those were the days, my friend — lost to political correctness.
Today, consumers often burn their hands holding paper cups filled with hot beverages that leak along the rim because the tops are not as snug-fitting as they are on foam cups. The politically correct solution has been to add paper sleeves around the cup, which mitigates hot fingers, but doesn’t keep coffee hot or prevent leaking.
There are, fortunately, a few holdouts — companies that still use foam cups, like Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s. These companies know that consumers appreciate the benefits of foam — more formally known as polystyrene foam.
Activists would love to see regulations eliminate foam cups completely, but absent the power to do that, they apply public pressure. During the 1990s, activists at the Environmental Defense Fund launched a public relations campaign against McDonald’s, generating bad PR that placed the fast food giant “in a pickle.” McDonald’s responded by eliminating foam packaging for their sandwiches, but not their coffee cups.
Activists continue to press for McDonald’s and others to eliminate foam cups as many politically correct coffee shops have already done. For example, one activist group called “As You Sow” has drafted a proposal for McDonald’s shareholders that calls on the company to phase out polystyrene cups.
Activists have long claimed that foam cups are less energy efficient than paper cups because they were not recycled as much. More recently, they have levied the charge that the cups are dangerous because they are made with a supposed carcinogenic chemical— styrene. They are wrong on both counts.
First consider the impact on energy usage. Earlier this year, the research group Franklin Associates released findings from their life-cycle assessment of polystyrene packaging and alternative paper products. Such assessments attempt to measure the impact that products have on the environment during their entire lifetime — from cradle to grave.
The company found that the average 16-ounce polystyrene cup uses a third less energy, produces 50 percent less solid waste by volume, and releases a third less of so-called “green house gases” than does a 16-ounce paper cup with a sleeve. Over their lifecycles, polystyrene packaging products require 20 to 30 percent less water than do paper alternatives.
I know it will never happen due to the billions made in profits…but for once, I would love to see one of these big corporations simply go “ok, you win”, and fold up shop. Laying off hundreds of thousands of workers instantly.
These progressives and econuts are so pressed on running every aspect of this nation that they give a rats rear end what the final outcome is, or the unintended consequences. Take a look at your lightbulb. A 30¢ lightbulb is now mandated to be replaced with a $2.50 piece of garbage containing….wait for it….mercury. All so GE and China inflate their bottom line, and they can ride off into the sunset feeling they have won some big victory.
I realize this is probably a futile question but what makes a CFL garbage? I get that the mandate against the current normal bulbs infuriates people but I haven’t figured what people so hate about the actual bulbs?
Andrew:
” what makes a CFL garbage?”
1) The ugly wierd unattractive shape.
Vomitus Ugly.
2) The ugly wierd unattractive light it gives off.
Dull, dark, eye straining, harsh erie Vomitus Ugly
3) The ugly wierd unattractive PRICE TAG
4) The ugly wierd unattractive way it doent save energy.
They are only more “efficient” than incandesants when you leave them on constantly, vs “on and off” use as needed….which means I have to ‘use more” electricity overall, in order to get the “savings”.
5) The ugly wierd unattractive way they contain toxic murcury.
If murcury is so dangerous the government to allow us to have in a
thermometer, (average one per household?) how is it safe enough to have it in ALL our light bulbs (how many per household?)
Saw ONE broken household thermometer in my whole lifetime.
Saw I dont know HOW many broken lightbulbs.
Math?
6) The ugly wierd unattractive way an over-expensive lightbulb that utterly FAILS at every measure I consider important, is now a government mandate for me to purchase.
Garbage.
@The Root ’83
Would it be fair to say its really the last one that is most important?
1&2 are aesthetics, the shape doesn’t really please or displease me but I prefer that light, more blue in it so it makes things look sharper to me.
3) Yea, they are more expensive, I tend to grab them when I see ‘em on sale. Sadly the price is less silly for my household as incandescent bulbs blow out rapidly due to some electrical issue, while I’ve only lost one cfl in the past 4-5 years so they are proving cost effective for us.
4) I don’t know on this one, tests ran on Mythbusters(take it for what you will) showed little difference between incandescent bulbs and florescent when clicking them on and off is negligible in current bulbs so I don’t really see how they don’t save you energy.
Is it enough to make a difference and off-set bulb cost? That’ll be different for each of us. Incandescent bulbs tend to blow out rapidly in my house, some electrical issue obviously, so its become obviously wiser to use a cfl when I’ve only lost one of them in 3-4 years now.
5) I’m assuming this one is facetious anyway, and just a round-about way of calling the gov hypocrites and so doesn’t really have any connection to the bulb. Though I think the cfl bulbs are even harder to break than a thermometer, I’ve broken two of those working with my fish tanks and only 1 cfl in the same time, and even then neither leaked.
6) This is the one I think that matters anyway, I agree, no-one should be telling people what kind of light-bulb to buy, get rid of the silly regulation and let people buy what they want.
I asked this because I wanted to know if I was assuming right. I generally assumed the reason people actively detest them is because they are getting forced to use them. Otherwise some people would buy them, others would not. But I’m not totally sure. Its like the mercury issue, both thermometers and light-bulbs contained fairly tiny amounts that ought not to have worried people. So, I figured people bring it up as proof of bad regulations, but I have to ask to be sure that’s what people meant.
Thank you very much for responding, even if the “ugly wierd unattractive” was a tad excessive.
Andrew: Feel free to like whatever you like, and let me be free to like what I like. Those are ugly bulbs, and don’t work as well…period. I hated them before I found out about the mercury part.
“…what people so hate about the actual bulbs?”
They cause a great deal of pain to those of us who suffer from migraine headaches. Why should we be condemned to even more pain than by a totalitarian government just so a few greenies believing in junk science can feel all warm and fuzzy? Curse you for this pain!
The long life spans promised in order to justify the expense are lies. CFLs don’t even last as long as standard incandescent bulbs. Just another “green” lie from your government stooges.
And the hazmat issue has already been mentioned. Dammit, man! Think of the CHILDREN!!!
Laying off thousands would fit right in with the goals of some of the radical tree-huggers.
Get rid of all humanity and let earth get back to its original pristine state. We do nothing but degrade the earth, according to them.
Facts never interfere with their thought processes,it all emotion and whatever HuffPo, Daily Show, etc, tells them that day is important, regardless of how contradictory it might be (see AlGore and his HUGE carbon footprint).
Actually, the secret is using a little brain power to overcome regulatory policy and leverage it to your benefit…since most all regulatory policy has its orign in the peoples private sector they shouldn’t mind.
Simply keep your shop open and offer the customers some really nice brushed aluminum mugs for a few $$$ and then take thier coffee order. If they bring it back fine and if not sell them a new one. One’s collection of aluminum mugs becomes to big, sell them as aluminum scrap. Aluminum is a national commodity afterall.
Maybe people will wake up and begin to blame their own private sectors special interest groups rather then the government.
I don;t think that higher automobile gas mileage requirements came from the private sector. Nor tougher CO2 emission standards set by the EPA. That was political. On the other hand, the push toward CFL bulbs probably came from GE. GE’s CEO Jeff Immelt is Obama’s economic advisor, so you could call it political. To blame all regulations on private industry is wrong, unless you admit that environmentalism is an industry. Otherwise, it’s politics.
Haven’t you heard? Aluminum is linked to Alzheimers.
Facts mean nothing to liberals. That is why Obamanomics is such a success.
Liberals want to order everyone’s lives except their own; foam cups bad, “medical” marijuana good.
Is there one tiny source of comfort (which doesn’t require gross immorality or perversion) in this world that some ‘activist’ doesn’t want to do away with?
Anything, in high enough quantities, can kill you. Drink too much water and see what happens. You can literally drown in your own tissues.
It good to see those who are so concerned about using science/facts in decision making throw those out when it comes to their pet enviro projects (remember, the next time someone talks about green energy remind them about the thousands of birds killed by wind turbines every year).
C’mon, the paper cups raise the possibility of being scalded by hot coffee. We have to keep class-action lawyers employed!
In my town we have whats called a “green team”. At first it did not seem obnoxious. They started out doing things like picking up litter. Now they go around to schools and lecture children about how they should tell their parents to stop using incandescent light bulbs, buy “green products” (what ever that means) etc. Now they council has wants to enforce “recycling” What does that mean? Going around checking through peoples garbage? They are now nothing but a bunch busy bodies wanting to dictate to everyone one else!
Do these Green Team people in your town happen to wear Brown Shirts, p’haps? Just curious.
Digging in peoples garbage is exactly what it means. My Mother in law tells me that if she doesn’t put things in the right recycle bin, she gets fined by the county.
They actually come around and check your trash cans and issue citations for not complying.
This is in Salt Lake BTW.
If we’re going to defend liberty effectively, we’re going to have to stop trying to counter anti-liberty arguments on technical grounds, and oppose them on moral grounds. Dunkin’ Donuts has a right to use whatever kind of cup they think makes the most sense for them, because they’re the ones who did the work in creating a network of stores that sells great coffee and delicious sandwiches and donuts. You don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.
I know what you mean, SFC_Swede, and I have often felt similarly with regard to various, different, issues of stupidity.
But, of course, that is what the enemies of freedom want, and when and if territory is handed over to them, and all the clamouring useful idiots with them, the enemies just march on to the next objective while the useful idiots simply never know what hit them.
One cannot give up.
So the so called greenies are wanting to force their belief on the rest of us. Poly cups are better for the environment than paper. They just don’t look good in ditches.
…I haven’t seen a foam cup at McDonalds for years. Am I just ordering the wrong size?
Chik-Fil-A puts its cold drinks in foam cups, which I love b/c the ice doesn’t melt before I get back to my office.
It’s not just coffee cups that are made of “styrofoam”, a closed-cell foam polystyrene. Just about any product that must resist shipping damage also uses the plastic. Ever tear down a box containing a TV? Half the box contains styrofoam, sandwiching the TV to prevent damage. Will they go after that next? If so, then expect higher costs of many products.
The worst thing that Edison’s incandescent light bulb can do is to burn out and leave you in the dark at an inconvenient moment.
The worst thing that a Curly F*ing Lightbulb can do is burn your house down. I’ve read several stories of house fires. In my own “near miss” I was walking in a hallway when a CFL in a recessed ceiling fixture began to buzz and dim. I turned off the light switch and removed the bulb (after it cooled) and found the ceramic base all blackened where the internal ballast or transformer or whatever is in there had shorted or malfunctioned. I’m sure it would have ignited the ceiling if I hadn’t detected it so quickly.
Make the cups out of tofu. Then those concerned with litter can eat their cups. The rest of us can donate them to food banks. Problem solved.
["Activists would love to see regulations eliminate foam cups completely."]
Key word: ACTIVISTS
Not public sector activists….but the peoples private sector activists!
I keep preaching on this site that we would be hard pressed to find ANY government regulatory policy that did not first have its origns from private sector special interst groups.
I keep preaching on this site that it is the people of the private sector who first run to the government to seek special favor and special entitlements.
Hypocritical condemnation of the the government?
If we didn’t give the government the power, then the “private sector activists” wouldn’t be able to make idiotic policy.
Also, anyone who’s bothered to educate themselves on the subject knows that many of these “private sector activists” are actually funded by the government. They either receive grants for “studies” or “programs” or just sue the government for the cash.
Might as well catalog this under first world problems. Environmentalist in general focus entirely on details and don’t see the big picture. Like that economic prosperity and cheap energy enable a more environmentally conscious society. Why don’t they support that instead of trying to get us to “go back” to our caveman days?
http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/library/deep-ecology/environmentalism-religion
They can have my Styrofoam cup when they pry it from my cold, dead, well-caffeinated hands.
You said it, sister! Nothing keeps hot hot and cold cold better than Styrofoam.
I thnink it is a waste of resources to use oil based materials to make one trip items, I think plastics should be used to make items that will have a long life time use. Currently there are limited places to recycle foam cups, and if they are dropped to the groand as litter they blow around for years. mcDonalds and all the major chains have stopped using foam cups in Europe. There will be no real loss of jobs, because as foam cup plants close, paper cup plants will open.
Freedom of choice? Dude, that’s so bourgeois!
There is a simple way to counter-protest the eco-nazis.
Set up a group to organize boycotts of any company who caves to social-justice or eco-fascist activists. Start with McDonalds: demand they restore styrofoam. All you need is 10% boycott, something the other side could never achieve.
Companies will realize that lefty/green boycotts have no effect, but the counter-boycotts can put you out of business.
McDonalds. Sweet Tea. With plenty of ice, lasts all afternoon! Nuff said.
Notably, the target is always McDonalds in the PR campaigns. A few months ago, I walked into a McDonalds to get lunch with only a short time available to eat because I specifically wanted some of their ice cream for dessert with my chicken nuggets, etc. and I knew they had lots of different kinds.
When I went in, however, the menu didn’t have anything listed like it anywhere, so I started to walk out, fuming to myself that I wanted ice cream because it was so hot out and I couldn’t think of any other place to get it on short notice. On the way out, I saw an ad for their one new McFlurry on the garbage can! So I went back in and asked the girl at the counter if they did indeed still sell ice cream. She looked like the deer in the headlights until I told her I wanted to buy one.
I got my ice cream and lunch, sat down to eat, and had other patrons – all adults – walking past do a double take on my food, some asking what the ice cream was. Finally, I asked one of the employees roaming around to clean tables if they were acting like they were selling crack instead of ice cream because of all of the bad PR campaigns against their unhealthy meals, and she just smiled.
Sad to say what all of this is coming to. I thought the whole scenario was ridiculous.
With respect to banning the incandescent, would only note that there was an article or two in the Wall Street Journal a few months ago. One of the articles noted that California, being beholden to the green movement, went ahead and jumped the gun and passed legislation that banned 100 watt or greater incandescents – apparently effective January 1, 2011.
One commentator mentioned that he had exhausted his stockpile of 100 watt incandescents and went to the local Lowe’s … only to be amazed that some innovative soul decided to make/offer … 95 watt incandescent bulbs.
Did they ban the incandescent in Canada? May have to make an annual pilgrimage to get my fix and concurrently, boost their economy. I’ll be sure to reduce spend on GE products as a means of financing my trip.
I don’t know if the Canadians sell incandescent bulbs but they do sell flush toilets that hold a normal amount of water in the tank. But don’t try to bring a Canadian toilet across the border. Customs officials at the Detroit/Windsor border have been known to confiscate them.
My basement is about half full of 100 watt incandescent bulbs and I will defend unto death my right to use them.
P.S. My eyesight is not good and I need at least a hundred watt bulb to see decently and a 200 watter is even better!
I bought one of those spiral-looking eco-bulbs yesterday at the super market. When I tried to screw it into my lamp, it was so fragile it cracked.