President Trump, in his latest move to roll back Biden-era environmental initiatives, is pledging to make plastic straws great again. 

“I will be signing an Executive Order next week ending the ridiculous Biden push for Paper Straws, which don’t work,” Mr. Trump declared on Friday in a post on Truth Social. The 47th president added: “BACK TO PLASTIC!” 

The order would reverse the Biden administration’s efforts to reduce the country’s dependency on single-use plastics, like plastic straws, cups, and utensils, to prevent pollution. Despite the fact that scientists view plastic straws as having a relatively minor environmental impact compared to other forms of plastic, the anti-plastic straw movement gained ground in the past 10 years and became an international phenomenon. 

Environmental advocates won public support by airing disturbing videos showing the impact of discarded straws on wildlife. One video shared nine years ago of an Olive Risley seat turtle plagued by a plastic straw lodged inside its nostril has been viewed more than 110 million times. 

In July of 2024 Mr. Biden announced his administration’s ambitious goal of eliminating the use of single-use plastics from food service operations, events, and packaging by 2027 and from all federal operations by 2035. 

Mr. Biden’s war on plastic drew ire from Republican lawmakers who criticized the president’s priorities. “The world’s on fire and he’s worried about plastic forks,” South Dakota senator, Mike Rounds, told DailyMail at the time. Oklahoma senator, James Lankford, blasted the move as “ridiculousness.” He added, “It’s also clearly not where everybody is. It’s going to raise costs for a lot of folks so it seems to be just irrelevant on deficit issues.” 

Utah Senator Mike Lee suggested that the focus on phasing out single-use plastics was misplaced and said that if the government was serious about reducing waste “they should shrink the government,” he told DailyMail. “The reason it’s the largest consumer is because it employs so many people, and it’s doing so many things it was probably never intended to do.” 

Beyond the annoyance of having a paper straw flop in on itself, it came out in 2023 that paper straws actually contained more “forever chemicals” — synthetic pollutants that are known to be potentially harmful for wildlife, humans, and the environment — than plastic. The researchers behind the study concluded that paper straws were not necessarily a more sustainable alternative to plastic. 

Mr. Trump, though, has long been vocal in his disapproval of the anti-plastic straw movement. During his 2020 presidential campaign, Mr. Trump’s team devised a clever scheme to tap into the public’s shared negative sentiment over the ban, selling Trump branded nine-inch long plastic straws.  “Liberal paper straws don’t work. Stand with President Trump and buy your pack of recyclable straws today,” the campaign’s store wrote. At $15 for a 10 pack, his campaign raised $460,000.

The president’s plan to bring back plastic straws evidently struck a chord with his billionaire buddy Elon Musk who responded by sharing on X: “Greatest President Ever.” His post has received 217,000 likes and counting.