President Donald Trump is once again making headlines over straws — this time by signing an executive order reversing the federal government’s phase-out of plastic straws, claiming the eco-friendly paper alternatives are ineffective and prone to falling apart.
Speaking from the White House last week, Trump said the switch back to plastic is necessary because paper straws are unreliable. “We’re going back to plastic straws,” the president declared. “These things — the paper ones — don’t work. I’ve had them many times. They break, they explode. If something’s hot, they don’t last very long — sometimes just seconds.”
The decision undoes a 2024 Biden-era policy that began phasing out plastic straws from federal facilities in an effort to curb plastic pollution.
Calling the push for paper straws a “ridiculous situation,” Trump dismissed concerns about ocean plastic waste. “I don’t think plastics are going to affect a shark very much as they’re munching their way through the ocean,” he said.
The executive order directs all federal agencies to immediately resume the purchase and use of plastic straws. Critics, however, were quick to mock the president’s remarks, with some social media users highlighting the absurdity of focusing on straws amid more pressing national concerns.
“US President Donald Trump appears to deny the environmental impact of plastic and signs an executive order to bring back plastic straws, claiming paper ones ‘explode.’ Heaven help us,” commented attorney and commentator Peter Stefanovic on X.
Others were more sarcastic:
- “If someone drinks hot liquid through a straw, the straw isn’t the problem.”
- “Pure strawlessness.”
- “Nice to see the leader of the free world tackling the big issues.”
Still, a few came to Trump’s defense, sharing their own gripes with paper straws. “I had a paper straw explode on me once, so yeah, it can happen,” one person wrote.
The move is yet another example of President Trump’s effort to roll back environmental regulations he has described as “overreach,” and to restore what he views as consumer freedom — one straw at a time.
