US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that stops the US government's attempts to replace plastic straws with paper ones, UNN reports, citing the BBC.
Details
The decree, which comes into effect immediately, reverses a measure signed by former US President Joe Biden, who called plastic pollution a "crisis.
Last week, Trump, who sold branded plastic straws during his 2020 campaign, said that paper straws "don't work" and "disgustingly" dissolve in consumers' mouths.
In 2024, Biden ordered the US government to phase out the purchase of plastic straws, as well as plastic cutlery and packaging.
Trump's directive orders government agencies to stop purchasing paper straws and calls for a strategy to eliminate them nationwide.
"We're going back to plastic straws," Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.
"These things don't work, I've had them many times, and sometimes they break, explode. If something is hot, they don't live long, like a few minutes, sometimes a few seconds. It's a ridiculous situation," Trump said.
Addendum
As part of a larger effort to combat plastic pollution, the Biden administration announced last year that it would phase out single-use plastic in food packaging.
Trump has been a longtime critic of paper tubes.
During his 2020 re-election campaign, which he ultimately lost, he sold Trump branded plastic straws for $15 for a pack of 10 as a replacement for what he called "liberal" paper straws.
In total, the campaign reported nearly $500,000 in straw sales in just the first few weeks.
According to some statistics, the number of disposable drinking straws used in the United States is 500 million per day, although this figure is hotly disputed and the true number may be about half that.
A number of US cities and states, including Seattle, Washington, California, Oregon, and New Jersey, have passed rules restricting the use of plastic straws or requiring companies to provide them only after customers request them.
Statistics from the United Nations Environment Program show that 460 million metric tons of plastic are produced annually, resulting in ocean waste and microplastics that can affect human health.
Some studies have shown that paper tubes, however, contain significant amounts of "everlasting chemicals" such as polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS.
PFAS can remain in the environment for decades, contaminating water and causing various health problems.