On Feb. 10, President Donald Trump issued an executive order ending the procurement and use of paper straws at federal businesses. It was a stark reversal from the Biden period, during which the previous president vowed to take away plastic straws and single-use plastics from federal meals service in favor of paper straws, that are considered higher for the surroundings.
“Plastic straws are sometimes changed by paper straws, that are nonfunctional, use chemical substances that will carry dangers to human well being, are costlier to provide than plastic straws, and infrequently pressure customers to make use of a number of straws,” reads the 2025 order.
However is that this truly true? Paper straws do cost extra to fabricate than plastic, and typically they include PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances). Nevertheless, plastic straws are made with petroleum, and when the plastic breaks down into microplastics, research present it will get into our brains.
Andrew Harnik by way of Getty Pictures
“It’s within the title of the manager order,” mentioned Ben Leffel, professor of public coverage and sustainability skilled at College of Nevada, Las Vegas. “It’s ending compelled use, which doesn’t exist. That is simply one other symbolic bone thrown to [Trump’s] supporters sticking it to the left. They’re framed as some type of tyrannical pressure. And right here’s our hero, President Trump, as soon as once more, placing us in a hypothetical jail of his personal making. The language of his govt orders lay naked the psychology of precisely what he’s doing, and it’s manipulative straw man policymaking.”
Opponents worry that reverting again to plastic straws will open the floodgates for rolling again extra environmental insurance policies and allow folks to make use of extra single-use plastics.
“Plastic isn’t a part of our eating regimen for a motive,” Leffel mentioned. “No straws [would] be a greater resolution, as a result of decreasing waste is what we wish to do.” On common, it takes 200 years for a plastic straw to decompose.
He’s pushing a petrochemical agenda.
Fifteen years in the past, Lauren Gropper co-founded the sustainability firm Repurpose to supply a substitute for plastics.
“Trump’s pushing plastic as a result of he’s pushing the petrochemical agenda. That’s what he needs,” she mentioned.
“We would like swaps that work. We actually don’t have to decide on between dangerous and worse.”
– Lauren Gropper, co-founder of the sustainability firm Repurpose
Politics apart, plastics aren’t good for our well being or the surroundings. “It’s actually not about paper versus plastic,” Gropper mentioned. “It’s about shifting ahead with higher supplies. And to me, the case for compostable bioplastics constructed from crops, not petroleum, it’s actually by no means been stronger as a result of we don’t need soggy, flimsy, sustainable swaps that don’t work. We would like swaps that work. We actually don’t have to decide on between dangerous and worse.”
Repurpose makes their straws from PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates), a unhazardous kind of polyester. “It’s a marine degradable licensed compostable straw, and it feels and appears like plastic, nevertheless it’s not,” Gropper mentioned. “Compostable options, they’re not political. They’re simply frequent sense it doesn’t matter what aspect you’re on. Nobody needs extra plastic of their physique, their water or their meals.”
CJ Biomaterials makes the resin or biomaterial utilized in PHA. The result’s straws constructed from fermented sugar. PHA has a carbon footprint as a lot as 55% smaller than polyethylene as a result of the method doesn’t embody extracting fuel or oil. Just a few weeks in the past, CJ Biomaterials started distributing straws made with their resin to bakery chain Tous les Jours, which has 150 U.S. areas.
EMS-FORSTER-PRODUCTIONS by way of Getty Pictures
“If you consider your common paper scorching cup, for instance, these all want some form of lining to provide you that related moisture resistance,” defined Leah Ford, the worldwide advertising, communications and sustainability chief at CJ. “When you use paper and a bioplastic like PHA collectively and use the PHA for that extrusion-coated lining, you possibly can have a very nice compostable scorching cup. We’re type of considerate about paper and bioplastics. Each have a task to play, whether or not it’s in straws or different functions.”
Past the manager order, client demand is an element.
“The rationale Starbucks and these different massive manufacturers made their preliminary commitments to do away with straws was due to client outreach,” mentioned Max Senechal, CJ’s chief industrial officer. “It wasn’t as a result of there was federal laws or regulation. The straw is a little bit of a lightning rod proper now for the brand new administration. However for us, you possibly can flip that right into a, ‘Hey, there are some applied sciences which were developed over the previous few years that are actually accessible at industrial scale that may reply the decision on straws.’”
Blueland focuses on dissolvable single-use tablets for sprays and hand soaps and has led the cost on sustainability.
“I’m not saying that paper straws is the reply, nevertheless it’s unlucky the message that’s being despatched out there may be plastic straws are nice, let’s hold the plastic straw celebration going,” mentioned Sarah Paiji Yoo, co-founder and CEO of Blueland. “I feel as a substitute, the main target and the messaging ought to proceed to be, let’s keep away from single-use plastic the place we will and proceed to assist innovation that may present higher options shifting ahead.”
“That is simply one other symbolic bone thrown to [Trump’s] supporters sticking it to the left.”
– Ben Leffel, professor of public coverage and sustainability skilled at College of Nevada, Las Vegas
Regardless of the federal order, many states and cities have banned utensils robotically included in takeout orders. Smaller governments can do their half. Paiji Yoo suggests the federal government ought to step in and provide companies incentives for eliminating plastics.
“I do assume there’s a function for presidency to make it possible for the proper incentives are in place so companies are making choices which are extra optimum for the planet and for human well being, as a result of I feel the prices that these companies don’t should bear once they determine to make use of a single-use plastic is who then carries the associated fee for recycling or landfilling, all of that low-cost materials, or when that materials results in the surroundings and impacts human well being,” she mentioned.
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“We will discover options that work, like Repurpose,” Gropper mentioned. “We will truly simply not use plastic straws and do with out them. We will reuse as a lot as potential.”
