Some companies think it’s cheaper or easier to organize to have disposable wrappers. In the US (and Europe, and likely everywhere, but that thread was about the US), those are allowed to be covered in PFAS. Many of them do; you can tell as they have this waxy surface common on fast food wrappers and disposable cups.

Whether PFAS are toxic is debated, mainly because there are thousands, and the few we’ve been using for a while proved to be not great. Manufacturers seem to be playing with how slow toxicity science works by claiming ignorance until experiments and financed and results are reviewed, which can take a lot. I’d call them “likely toxic,” but people with expensive lawyers don’t like that.

There can be PFAS on other non-disposable materials: non-stick pans are the big ones. You don’t need them on glassware, but (steel) water bottles and some cans (historically aluminum, but many are thin steel now) typically have a coating that could be PFAS. It depends on the manufacturer.

All those precautions out of the way… *Yes.*

Whenever possible, avoid disposable wrappers. Glass is great. Bottles in steel with no ultraviolet, excessive heat, or scratches are less likely to leak the coating either.

Most coffee chains now offer permanent cups; some even take cents off to encourage people to use them. I have yet to see fast-food chains do the same (or convince the local one to let me use my own glass). I don’t foresee an easy solution to wrap burgers or fries.

This being HN: if you have an idea, please develop it. I have invested (Angel round) in several (well, three) efforts in that direction. All three have fairly low-tech containers (glass, steel, QR code), local collection points, and non-trivial software to know who holds what.

If you want to hit the big boys like McDonald’s, ask friends at Uber Eats to introduce you to people who work with chain restaurants. They will explain better than I can why it’s hard.