The federal plastic straw phaseout is no more. This week, President Donald Trump announced an executive order to eliminate the “procurement and forced use of paper straws.”
“The irrational campaign against plastic straws has forced Americans to use nonfunctional paper straws,” the executive order, dated February 10th, declared. “Cities and states across America have banned plastic straws, caving to pressure from woke activists who prioritize symbolism over science.”
In July 2024, then-President Joe Biden announced the first-ever government-wide plan to target plastic pollution through his Mobilizing Federal Action on Plastic Pollution: Progress, Principles, and Priorities plan. It called for reducing “the impact of plastic pollution throughout the plastic lifecycle.”
This execution action also mandated the gradual phaseout of “single-use plastics from food service operations, events, and packaging”—including plastic straws—from government food services by 2027 and from all federal entities by 2035. The plastic straw ban aligned with the Executive Order on Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs through Federal Sustainability and President’s Biden Federal Sustainability Plan—the latter of which called for net-zero plastic use by 2050.
President Trump also cited paper straws containing “forever chemicals” and the paradox of alternatives being “individually wrapped in plastic” to justify reversing his predecessor’s whole-of-government single-use plastic ban.
Paper straws have been scrutinized in the U.S. over their utility and questionable environmental benefits. Compared to plastic, paper straws are reportedly more expensive to manufacture and, ironically, use more energy than plastic ones.
Paper straws are hard to use and break down easily when placed into drinks. For Americans with disabilities, plastic straws are preferred over paper alternatives. A Washington Post columnist pointed this out in 2018:
People with a huge range of disabilities depend on plastic straws to access beverages and the very water they need to survive: cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis, among many others. For so many people with disabilities, something as mundane as a straw represents independence and freedom. And the conversation around their environmental impact, without consideration of who uses straws and why, demonstrates how people with disabilities are often forgotten.
One report found paper straws require 96 kilojoules of energy and produce 4.1 grams of carbon dioxide emissions compared to plastic—which uses a fraction of the energy (39 KJ) and results in fewer emissions (1.5 grams). Paper straws reportedly can’t be recycled, and they emit more carbon emissions when they degrade in landfills.
Stanford researchers similarly concluded plastic straws aren’t responsible for plastic pollution, accounting for just 1% of the problem. And the United States isn’t the top plastic pollution offender. India, China, Indonesia, and Brazil are primarily responsible for plastic pollution in our oceans. The top ten pollution hotspots are in Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America—not our nation.
Like common household appliances, Americans are capable of deciding the best straw for themselves and their families. Environmental policies concerning plastics should be reasonable and recognize trade-offs.
To learn more about plastic straw bans, read THIS.