Donald Trump signs order shifting US back towards plastic straws
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending U.S. government efforts to replace plastic straws with paper.
The order came into effect immediately, reversing a measure signed by former President Joe Biden, who called plastic pollution a “crisis.”
Last week, Trump sold the brand’s plastic straws during the 2020 election campaign, saying paper straw “doesn’t work” and “annoying” dissolved in the mouths of consumers.
In 2024, Biden ordered a gradual end to the U.S. government’s purchase of plastic straws and plastic tableware and packaging.
Trump’s directives ordered government agencies to stop buying paper straws and called for a strategy to eliminate papermaking nationwide.
“We’re going to go back to plastic straws,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.
“These things don’t work, I’ve had a lot of times, sometimes they break and explode. If there’s some heat, they don’t last long, like a matter of minutes, sometimes a few seconds. It’s a ridiculous thing. the situation,” Trump said.
As part of a broader effort to target plastic pollution, the Biden administration announced last year that it will gradually phase out single-use plastics for food packaging, operations and events, and by 2027, all federal operations will be phased out from 2035.
Trump has been a long-time critic of paper straw.
During his re-elected presidential campaign in 2020, he ended up losing the brand’s plastic straws – a pack of $10 for $15 – replacing what he calls “freedom” paper straw.
In the first few weeks alone, the event reportedly received nearly $500,000 from straw sales in total.
Some statistics Number of disposable drinking straws placed in use In the United States, $500 million per year – although this number has caused controversy, the real total is about half.
Many U.S. cities and states – including Seattle in Washington; California; Oregon; New Jersey – have adopted rules that restrict the use of plastic straws or require businesses to provide only after customer inquiries.
Statistics from the United Nations Environmental Program show that 460 million tons of plastic are produced each year, resulting in waste in the ocean and waste in microplastics, which may affect human health.
Some studies have shown that paper straws contain a large amount of “forever chemicals”, such as polyfluoroalkyl or PFA.
PFA can remain in the environment for decades, contaminating water supplies and causing various health problems.
