Back to plastic: Trump declares war on paper straws

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump has declared war on paper straws and is pushing for a return to plastic, reported German news agency (dpa).

Trump on Monday signed an order in the White House stating that US government departments and agencies should no longer procure and use paper straws in the future.

His team is also to develop a national strategy to end the use of paper straws. Guidelines that would disadvantage plastic straws are to be abolished.

"These things don't work," Trump said of paper straws. "I've had them many times, and on occasion, they break, they explode," the US president claimed.

"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, so we're going back to plastic straws. I think it's okay."

Trump went on to say that he doesn't think "that plastic is going to affect a shark very much as they're eating as they're munching their way through the ocean".

Disposable plastic items such as drinking cups, cutlery or straws are considered harmful to the environment, partly because a lot of them end up in the ocean.

In the European Union, for example, the sale of plastic drinking straws has been banned since mid-2021.

Some 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced since the 1950s - roughly equivalent to the weight of 910,000 Eiffel Towers, according to UN figures. The overwhelming majority is not biodegradable and eventually ends up as waste in landfill sites or in the ocean. - BERNAMA