Lids and Straws for Restaurant Drinks

I am always looking for ways to reduce waste. I especially like to find small changes that can be made to accomplish this, as those seem the easiest to implement and stick with. I've recently noticed that Andrea and I have both been taking some of these small steps to reduce waste when we eat out at restaurants.

While we try not to eat fast food a lot, we do still have it at least a few times per month. When getting our drinks, we have both stopped getting a lid for our cups. While I'm sure there are situations where using a lid makes sense, I haven't found any situations in which one is necessary for me when dining in. Since using a lid isn't necessary, I see no point in being wasteful and getting one. Every lid that I choose not to use is one less lid that ends up in the landfill. The lids I do not use will never add up to a whole lot, since we don't eat fast food that much, but every small step that we make has a small impact. Eventually these add up to more significant impacts, especially if others join us.

I have also started to reduce my use of straws in restaurants. I still sometimes get them out of habit, or when my water comes with a lemon wedge that I want to stir into the drink. However, I see no reason that I can't entirely cut out my use of straws the same as I have lids. Like lids, the impact is small, but the effort is also very small.