Microplastic overdose

I got a milkshake a while back, in a plastic container, with a plastic lid, for some reason it also came with a plastic spoon, and a paper straw, since they are cutting down on plastics...

go to mcdonald's
order hot cakes and a large orange juice
receive hot cakes in plastic container, with six individually plastic wrapped teaspoons of butter and a plastic tub of high fructose corn syrup and a large plastic cup of orange juice
throw away plastic straw
pull out reusable metal straw
I'm saving the environment one breakfast at a time
- Ah the, "I'll have a diet coke with this Big Mag, Cheesecake bites, large French Fries" mindset.
Here, the paper straws were individually packed in plastic foil.
- Yes but that was bio-degradable plastic. It will only last 10,000 years in a landfill instead of eternity.
- WHAT?!???!?
I know this probably isn't the best place, but I really hate the way paper straws feel, but I also hate being handed a any straw when I can just drink straight from the cup anyway.
In my community, most of the lids are biodegradable. Still not great (require an industrial composter), but at least if it is left out, it does breakdown somewhat faster than "never"

If they didn't they would all melt together cause that stuff isn't real cheese.

when the contents have as much plastic as the packaging
- Looking at the thumbnail, I assumed this was going to be a joke about the cheese being essentially plastic
They could use parchment paper I think.
- Was just about to say this. A decent amount of brands do use paper instead of plastic to separate individual slices, but I’ve only seen it with real cheese. Never with American cheese
  Also before anyone says something, no, American cheese is not real cheese. In fact, it contains less than 50% cheese. It is officially considered a “pasteurized processed American cheese food”.
  Also it’s only good for grilled cheese, bacon egg and cheese sandwiches, or melting onto leftover spaghetti. I will die on this hill.
- Might dry out
Personally, I like cheese but I always found plastic sliced cheese just fucking gross. Melted cheese in plastic blech
- Try a good deli-style American. So much better than Kraft Singles. Much lower milk content, so it’s more solid. Not individually wrapped, but individually sliced. Higher cheddar and Colby content, so its flavor is better. Still melts beautifully. Best burger cheese out there, IMO.
It's plastic isn't it?
It ain't gonna slide down easy if it ain't cheesy!
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- American cheese is specifically designed to melt well, I don't know what you're talking about
Kraft does sell non-singles sliced american cheese. Nothing between the slices and it doesn't stick together. Also doesn't have that plasticy taste.

I mean there was some joke libertarian candidate that literally ran under the slogan "Make America Grate Again" claiming that he would outlaw sliced and shredded cheeses to make America embrace its graters and its grating roots.

How is clamping down on the freedom companies have to make plastic cheese, and the freedom for people to buy it... Libertarian?
Isn't that pretty authoritarian?
- No no, you see, it's because libertarians are dumb
I bought a rotary grater about two years ago thanks to a post on Reddit and I rarely ever buy sliced cheese anymore, if I do it's the kind that comes in one pack with parchment paper in between the slices.

Remember when fruit stickers used to be paper and biodegradable? Now they're all fucking plastic because they need their logo to be shinier I guess.

Stickers on fruit would make me pick another variety.
- Where I live the only fruits that don't have stickers are tomatoes.
I remember eating one of those biodegradable stickers once, it felt mildly uncomfortable.

Or just don't buy American cheese because it's gross and fake.

American cheese is the best cheese for a cheeseburger because it melts without splitting.
- I always go for sharp cheddar instead which I feel is close if not better... or Bleu cheese, although that definitely is crumbly.
- Just like the cheeseburger your mother could barely afford.
I still think its odd that people call that american cheese. Like, do people in the USA really want their name attached to that stuff?
- Forreal haha. I just call them Kraft Singles bc I refuse to acknowledge it as cheese.
- The name brand in the US is Kraft Singles, but at least here that type of orange cheese is just referred to as American regardless of brand
- I've never heard of Chester cheese. There's Cheshire cheese, but that's quite crumbly and wouldn't hold up to being packaged like this. You might also be thinking of cheddar. A genuine cheddar would be too brittle, but in modern marketing, cheddar is often shorthand for any homogenous, yellow cheese. So this stuff might be described as cheddar on the packet.
  I think this stuff is more of a cheese-flavoured sauce, that they inject into the bags and leave to set. It's more an invention of the convenience food industry, than any culinary tradition.
- The British don't know anything about food either.
I have come full circle. I loved processed American cheese food (pacf) when I was a kid because I was a kid. Then I got into fancy sliced cheeses like cheddar and Gouda. But they don't melt as nicely! So now back to pacf for burgers and melts because it is the best ingredient for that job.
Its also cheap, tho.
- Here's the weird thing about that:
  Sargento Colby Jack at Walmart, 34.7 cents/ounce
  Kraft Singles at 31.1 cents/ounce
  That's an egregious example because you can find better sliced cheese (store brand) for much cheaper than Sargento even, but still disturbing to see how expensive those singles really are.
It’s delicious and who cares if something is real or not?

Things can be related to more than one thing at a time. Banning single use plastics will be cheaper for corporations that offer them for free but it's also better for the environment if they do not exist for decades or centuries after they've been used.

Two things: these are basically plastic anyways.

Also, the plastic straw thing was a PR move. Corporations don't give any shits unless it will make money or lose them money.

I'm sure there was a nontrivial number of customers who either boycotted or threatened to boycott companies that didn't switch. When their bottom line gets threatened like that, they take action to prevent revenue loss.

Nothing more. There's way more problems with everything than plastic straws. My favorite PR move is how they convinced everyone that their cars are causing the majority of CO2 emissions from transit.... Between that and airplanes, everyone is up in arms about the electrification of everything.... Yet, the most major transport offenders are freight, and they have no plans or intention of changing their ways. I heard somewhere that if you were to have zero carbon emissions for your entire life, you would save the approximate amount that freight liners emit in a year, at most. I think a year is too long. I forget the exact figure.

They emit more CO2 than all the cars, and all the planes and everything else you could point to... Yet, I have yet to hear anyone tell me about it, either personally, or on the news or anything. Everyone seems oblivious to the facts. They latch on to these "issues" like straws and personal vehicle CO2 emissions which are trivial....

People saw that video of the sea turtle with the straw in its nose and, rightfully, got mad. If only they also got mad about microplastics being inside everyone and everything.
- Public outrage from one, probably staged, viral video.
  There's a disturbing number of viral videos that are downright animal abuse against turtles just for views.

Fake Plastic Cheese, good radiohead song.

I admit growing up pretty poor, these were considered a treat lol.

You may be remembering Radiohead a bit differently than the rest of us.
- I don't know what you're talking about. The lyrics seem pretty clear about the song being about cheese.
  Her green plastic ez-cheese can
  For her fake Chinese cooking pan
  In the fake cheesy earth
  That she ate from a spray cheese can
  In a town full of muenster plans
  To get rid of American
  It wears her out
  It wears her out
  It wears her out
  It wears her out
  She lives with a queso hand
  A sliced American hand
  That just crumbles and molds
  He used to get pepper jack
  For girls who want that jack
  But American always wins
  And it wears him out
  It wears him out
  It wears him out
  It wears
  She looks like the fake cheese
  She tastes like the fake cheese
  My fake plastic cheese
  But I can't help the feeling
  I could chew through the sealing
  If I just turn and taste
  And it wears me out
  It wears me out
  It wears me out
  It wears me out
  And if it could be cheese you wanted
  If it could be cheese you wanted
  All the cheese
  All the cheese

Considered the following:

The slices of cheese are analogous to each of our individual lives: it's boring, manufactured, and there is a wrap of plastic which define us as individuals but keeps separate from one another. The only good aspect of American cheese is that it is designed for melting, so in essence, by removing the plastic barrier that keeps us separated, we, like the humble slices of American cheese, can melt and become part of something greater than our individual selves (like a burger or a grilled cheese).

Or as Karl Marx once said: Life is plastic, it's fantastic.

Being compared to American Cheese is the worst insult I've ever endured.
- cook yourself between two pieces of bread and maybe you'll be compared to american grilled cheese instead

Just eat real cheese, not this processed crap that's so gunky it sticks together. Double win!

The "process" is melting, and the "crap" they add is milk and phosphates.
Calling Kraft singles "not real cheese" is the equivalent to calling a sauce Mornay "not real cheese" - technically correct I guess, but its still made out of perfectly safe ingredients and serves it's purpose well.
- The "process" is melting and adding emulsifying agents, vegetable oils, unfermented dairy ingredients, salt, food coloring, and sometimes sugar. the end product typically contains about 50-60% cheese.
  and no, a mornay is not a cheese, its a sauce.
- Took a lot of digging to find a sane comment. No one is putting singles out on the charcuterie board, but it has a purpose, and it does it well.
They used to sell it without the wrappers though too. But now it’s so unpopular that they often only have tv he individually wrapped ones.
I buy this stuff once a year for smash burgers in the summer. Use the rest up for grilled cheeses and then try to forget imitation just wasted all that plastic.

I really want American cheese that is not wrapped in plastic. Kraft makes it but it costs more than double the plastic wrapped stuff. I've paid that price when times were plenty but they are no more.

Buy a cheese slicer and thank me later. Another pro tip buy cheese from Amish people if you can, I love like 30 minutes away from an Amish store & their cheese is on another level.
- I have a cheese and meat slicer on my wishlist, I'll get there one of these days.
American cheese is so processed anyways is it any better with or without the plastic?
- Markedly. The stuff wrapped in plastic is like play dough in comparison to getting it in a block or sliced from the deli counter.
Can't say I even find the ones individually wrapped appealing, cheaper or not. I wouldn't be surprised if it's not even real cheese.
Just use Swiss Cheez, it's spreadable. I don't eat anything without it.
- Are you okay?

Well in this case plastic for plastic seems fine

Cheese like this always tastes gross.

This is not real cheese, it is american cheese.
- For the record, good American cheese does exist. It's just a blend of cheddar and Colby with some annatto for seasoning, instead of the extruded "cheese product" stuff in plastic wrappers.
- Oh yes, sorry.
  """"""cheese"""""" like this always tastes gross.
Grilled cheese sandwiches would like a word with you
- True those taste good, but they taste even better made with Havarti or Gouda
- No thanks. I prefer actual cheese on my sandwich. Not this salt paste. flings the frisbee cheese back at you take this abomination away.

A daily reminder that durable biocellulose plastics have been available for over 75 years.

I've just realised why that stuff always tastes like plastic

To be fair, the so called “”cheese”” inside the plastic wrap is probably mostly plastic / petro product as welll…

did you just use wikipedia as a verb and can you explain how i can start doing the same?
- First google it, then click on Wikipedia. Next time you tell someone to google it, but you really mean click the Wikipedia link… well you get the idea

Mmm... 64 slices of American cheese.

I heard that in my head. 🤤🤤
Don’t even think about calling that sludge cheese. But it’s definitely American, that’s for sure!
64
Oghm...

Well, in my country they've replaced the straws on those 2dl juice boxes by a flimsy paper straw that disintegrate with any contact with any liquid, and can't punch trough the tiny METALLIC seal for the straw hole. These useless paperrolls are packed in pladtic, and gued to the side of the box...

Paper straws are so bad 😂 😅 🤣 😂 Why not ban throwing plastic into the ocean instead of banning plastic straws?
- Because banning plastic straws is more visible to consumer, and takes less from the profit margin of the companies?
- pretty dang sure littering is already generally illegal and that has done basically nothing to stop people from doing it. But people can't throw plastic into the ocean if they can't get their hands on plastic to throw in the ocean.

There’s more plastic in that “cheese” than there is in a straw

my mom used to buy that crap along with nasty white bread. she still microwaves food on plastic plates that are decades old with visible knife cuts and bacteria stains in them. she used to be a life long democrat like our blue collar grand parents. Now she wants to stop immigrants even though she wouldn't recognize any and doesn't live anywhere near a border and she's already retired.

Anyway, don't eat that cheese, pick something else and don't turn into a dick when you get old.

this rhetoric is so fucking exhausting, how many people litter this kind of plastic packaging? when do you see someone throwing plastic out the window of their house????

we're getting rid of plastic in TAKEOUT packaging because people will merrily toss that out the car window as they speed down a highway with a burger in their hand, it's not rocket science to figure this out.

fucking facebook-level post

We wrap too much in plastic. This and takeout and everything. You're a facebook-level user.

You'd think these could be seperated perfectly by pieces of wax paper.

Edit: oh, and you basically have these smoked cheese sausages. Which is basically the same thing, but pressed in a sausage shape with an artificial skin. I'd bet the unsmoked version of that would taste very similar to this. And you could just cut your own slices. And they'd fit even better on a burger since they're round.

My favorite is when Brody puts the full slice in his mouth and removes the casings like an owl regurgitating mouse bones.

https://youtu.be/Plei9_m1Yc8?si=KyTaAKucss7zNfms

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I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

Baby steps... Baby steps...

Unpopular opinion : stacking CO2 in plastic bags does less harm than pumping it to atmosphere

As a Canadian I find it dumb, but also somehow the ban was deemed unconstitutional(Dont you think there are more important issues to use our federal courts for?)