- President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to stop the purchasing of paper straws, and to ensure they're not longer used in federal buildings.
- Trump gave his Domestic Policy Council 45 days to create a strategy to stop the use of paper straws across the county.
- Paper straws are typically regarded as better for the environment, but can be unpopular among customers.
On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an order to stop the federal use of paper straws and announced that he wants the government to exclusively use plastic straws.
Trump said that paper straws “don’t work” and they don’t last very long, according to The Associated Press.
The president’s executive order reverses federal purchasing policies that are in favor of paper straws. It also directs federal agencies to restrict paper straws “and otherwise ensure that paper straws are no longer provided within agency buildings.”
This order comes just days after the president directed the Treasury Department to stop minting pennies, because they’re too expensive to make, as previously reported by the Deseret News.
Trump’s Domestic Policy Council has been given 45 days to develop a National Strategy to End the Use of Paper Straws in order to alleviate the “forced use” of paper straws across the country, per USA Today.
This order targets a Biden administration policy to phase out purchases of single-use plastics by the federal government. This policy was meant to remove single-use plastic, including food and beverage containers, plastic straws and bottles, from all federal operations by 2032.
The debate between plastic and paper straws
Plastic straws have been blamed for harming marine life and polluting oceans, but on Monday Trump said he thinks it’s fine to keep using them.
“I don’t think that plastic is going to affect the sharks very much as they’re eating, as they’re munching their way through the ocean,” Trump said at the White House announcement of the order, per the AP.
Multiple states and cities across the U.S. have banned plastic straws, and some restaurants don’t automatically give them to customers anymore.
According to USA Today, paper straws are typically regarded as better for the environment, but they typically dissolve quickly and are often unpopular with customers.
Plastic straws are just one small part of the amount of single-use plastics used daily, from food and beverage containers, takeout containers, water bottles, shopping bags, and other things, per the AP.
Christy Leavitt, the plastics campaign director for the environmental group Oceana, said most U.S. voters support having companies reduce single-use plastic packaging and foodware.
Leavitt said that Trump’s executive order is “more about messaging than finding solutions,” according to the AP.
A fact sheet from the White House states that paper straws are more expensive than plastic straws.
Will Scharf, White House staff secretary, presented the executive order to Trump. He told the president that favoring the use of paper straws has cost the private sector and the government “an absolute ton of money and left consumers all over the country wildly dissatisfied with their straws. It really is something that affects ordinary Americans in their everyday lives,” per the AP.
The White House also said that Trump has made promoting a clean and healthy environment a top priority.