Donald Trump signs order shifting US back towards plastic straws

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order ending a US government effort to replace plastic straws with paper.

The order, which takes effect immediately, reverses a measure signed by former President Joe Biden, who had called plastic pollution a “crisis”.

Last week, Trump – who sold branded plastic straws during his 2020 election campaign – said paper straws “don’t work” and “disgustingly” dissolve in the mouths of consumers.

In 2024, Biden ordered a gradual end to US government purchases of plastic straws, as well as plastic cutlery and packaging.

Trump’s directive orders government agencies to stop buying 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 on occasion, they break, they explode. If something’s hot, they don’t last very long, like a matter of minutes, sometimes a matter of seconds. It’s a ridiculous situation,” Trump said.

As part of a wider effort to target plastic pollution, the Biden administration last year announced that it would gradually phase out single-use plastics from food packaging, operations and events by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035.

Trump has been a long-standing critic of paper straws.

During his campaign to be re-elected president in 2020, which he ultimately lost, “Trump” branded plastic straws were sold – at $15 for a pack of 10 – as a replacement for what he called “liberal” paper straws.

In total, the campaign reportedly nearly $500,000 from straw sales in the first few weeks alone.

Some statistics place the number of disposable drinking straws used in the US at 500 million a year – although that figure is hotly disputed and the true total could be about half that.

A number of US cities and states – including Seattle, Washington; California; Oregon; and New Jersey – have adopted rules that limit the use of plastic straws or require that businesses provide them only after being asked by customers.

UN Environment Program statistics show that 460 million metric tonnes of plastic are produced every year, contributing to waste in the ocean and microplastics which can affect human health.

Some studies have shown that paper straws, however, contain significant amounts of “forever chemicals” such as polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

PFAS can stay in the environment for decades, contaminate water supplies and cause a variety of health issues.