US Reverses Federal Ban on Plastic Straws

February 13, 2025

(3 Minutes read)

The advocacy group Beyond Plastics said that while plastics are often cheaper than paper products, the cheapest option is to skip the straw.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reverse a federal push away from plastic straws. Trump said he thinks “it’s OK” to continue using plastic straws, although they have been blamed for polluting oceans and harming marine life.

In 2015, a video of a marine biologist pulling a plastic straw out of a turtle’s nose sparked outrage worldwide and countries and cities started banning them, starting with the Pacific Island nation Vanuatu and Seattle in 2018.

More than 390 million plastic straws are used every day in the United States, most for 30 minutes or less, according to advocacy group Turtle Island Restoration Network.

Plastic straws are usually thrown away after one use, going on to litter beaches and waterways and potentially killing marine animals that mistake them for food. The straws are not recyclable because they are so small. They take at least 200 years to decompose, the network said.

Trump’s executive order claims that paper straws use chemicals that may carry risks to human health and are more expensive to produce than plastic straws. Researchers from the University of Antwerp found forever chemicals known as PFAS to be present in paper, bamboo, glass, and plastic straws, but not stainless steel ones, according to a 2023 study.

The advocacy group Beyond Plastics said that while plastics are often cheaper than paper products, the cheapest option is to skip the straw.