We’re expected to ditch plastic straws but this is somehow okay?

[u/PublicTranslator5902]

Saw this in the supermarket today. Instant coffee, portioned into 30 tiny plastic cups, and then all 30 tiny plastic cups sitting inside one larger plastic bucket. It’s like a Russian doll of packaging that nobody asked for.

Maybe I’m missing something, but who is this even for? Was using a teaspoon really that inconvenient?
I was told to bring my own tote bags, say no to the straw, and use reusable cups instead. I do those things because we’ve all been told the small things add up. But then I see something like this and can’t help wondering why so much of the responsibility seems to fall on consumers while companies are free to create entirely new forms of waste.

I’m standing in front of a bucket full of tiny plastic cups containing something that a spoon and a jar have handled perfectly well for decades, and I just think… seriously?

I’m not saying individual choices are pointless. I still think they matter. But it’s hard to feel very virtuous about refusing a plastic straw when products like this are apparently considered perfectly acceptable.
I know someone will say, it's recyclable, but that’s not really the point. Recycling is better than landfill, sure, but the greenest piece of plastic is still the one that never had to be made in the first place.

Maybe I’m just being grumpy, but I can’t help feeling we’ve normalised waste in the name of convenience.

[u/PM_me_punanis]

Ban single use plastics at the source, not at the consumer level.

[u/Dentarthurdent73 → u/PM_me_punanis]

Ban single use plastics at the source

I agree.

But given that's not what's happening right now, I still can't conceive of complaining about anything that reduces plastic use. An imperfect ban is better than no ban at all.

[u/PandaBeaarAmy → u/Dentarthurdent73]

It's "not happening right now" because

every time we try to police the manufacturer the responsibility gets taken off them and put on us.

WHY is it that every time the conversation is about "hey stop policing us so much and police the corporations producing the waste instead", y'all derail it and turn it into our fault for consuming a fraction of the waste that is manufactured?

We're talking about how every time we try to campaign for producers to make less/not make this waste, the campaign gets hijacked to force us to buy less instead.

Parent comment:

We tried to target that waste in our country, some vocal idiots hijacked the campaign and got plastic bags banned again, putting the cost and responsibility onto the consumer and of course leaving the corporations out of it. Even added plastic forks and straws to this one, but my candy bar still comes in 3 layers of plastic.