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US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order ending a US government effort to replace plastic straws with paper. <\/p>\n
The order, which takes effect immediately, reverses a measure signed by former President Joe Biden, who had called plastic pollution a “crisis”.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
In 2024, Biden ordered a gradual end to US government purchases of plastic straws, as well as plastic cutlery and packaging.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Trump’s directive orders government agencies to stop buying paper straws and calls for a strategy to eliminate them nationwide. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
“We’re going back to plastic straws,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Trump has been a long-standing critic of paper straws. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
In total, the campaign reported nearly $500,000 from straw sales in the first few weeks alone. <\/p>\n