By: Riley Torgerson

Donald Trump has signed executive orders putting our world's environment at risk, proclaiming plastic straws to be more important than our planet.

Plastic Straw Pollution on Beach. Focal Foto. CC 2.0
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On Feb. 10, 2025, President Donald Trump decided that paper straws “don’t work” and issued an executive order requiring the government to use plastic straws exclusively. The White House shared that Trump's order to end the “forced use” of paper straws is an irrational campaign “caving to pressure from work activists who prioritize symbolism over science.” Trump argues that paper straws are more expensive, contain water-soluble chemicals and are not eco-friendly. While plastic straws are less expensive than paper straws, their cheaper price is not worth the cost of their detrimental environmental effect. The promotion of plastic straws will only aggravate our current “plastic pollution crisis,” worsening the spread of microplastics.

The initial ban on plastic straws began as a response to a public cry for help. It is estimated that in the U.S., about 500 million straws are used daily and about 8.3 billion straws are in our oceans and beaches. These high numbers are most due to their size; they are not recycled as often, and their lightweight causes them to be easily missed when throwing trash away. Plastic straws are also particularly bad for the environment because they quickly break down into microplastics that infiltrate animal and human life after exposure to sunlight, waves, wind and temperature extremes. Finally, plastic straws are made from carcinogenic materials, similar to plastic foam.

In 2015, a video surfaced online of a sea turtle off the coast in Costa Rica with a bloody straw stuck in its nose, triggering an anti-plastic movement focusing on how terrible single-use plastic is for the environment and how easy it is to remove from our day-to-day lives. A study done by Ocean Conservancy in 2023 surveyed their International Coastal Cleanups, finding that straws went from being the most found trash item during clean-ups to the 10th, showing the anti-plastic revolution was working. In 2024, Biden announced the federal government would phase out single-use plastic, specifically plastic straws, from all federal operations by 2035. However, this is no longer in effect.

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This executive order also states that the Trump administration focuses on promoting a clean and healthy environment, unlike the previous Biden administration, which wasted tax dollars and created no “effective” solutions, according to Trump. However, during Trump's first term, his administration was responsible for rolling back over 100 environmental rules and regulations. Days into his second term, President Trump pulled America from the Paris Climate Agreement, making the U.S. the only nation not a part of the agreement. Through another executive order, Trump also declared a national energy emergency. Advocating for oil and gas expansion, he said the infamous “drill, baby, drill,” explicitly stating that the Endangered Species Act would not get in the way of drilling, risking the lives of rare wildlife. Additionally, Trump revoked Biden's landmark 2022 climate law and Inflation Reduction Act to have electric vehicles make half of the sales by 2030, which is rewarded with a $7,500 tax stipend. Finally, the Trump administration is trying to eliminate any environmental justice consideration with any facilities, laws or policies that consider how any environmentally unfriendly infrastructure like waste sites would affect marginalized communities. Experts say this would destroy years of progress against environmental discrimination, leaving advocating organizations federally unsupported.

While reversing the ban on plastic straws may sound trivial, so much so that it was jokingly posted on Instagram by governmental authorities, it is only the beginning of the Trump Administration inundating the American public with misleading directives that will have consequential outcomes to our environment. The sheer volume of executive orders his administration has created over the past few weeks has become overwhelming to Americans flooded with delusive mandates. Stay informed about new executive orders and their impacts. While something as minor as plastic straws may be reintroduced, it is imperative to consider the numerous negative environmental effects single-use plastic brings to the planet and the wildlife and people living on it.

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