Jody Serrano
Editor in chiefEditor in Chief at Xataka On. Before joining Webedia, I was a tech reporter at Gizmodo and The Messenger. While I've covered all sorts of things related to technology, I'm specialized in writing about social media, Internet culture, Twitch, and streamers.
President Donald Trump has made no effort to hide his disdain of paper straws, stating that “they don’t work” and even claiming the products “explode.” This week, he declared war on paper straws and directed federal agencies to use only plastic straws.
While it can be easy to view the straw issue as a matter of politics, it’s more complex than it seems.
What science says about paper straws. Paper straws have been touted as an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic straws for years, but these products also have their issues. As noted by Slate, researchers at the University of Florida found that straws made of paper and other plant-based materials contained perfluoroalkylated and polyfluoroalkylated substances, also known as PFAS.
Colloquially, these are known as “forever chemicals,” and are harmful to humans and animals. Exposure to certain levels of forever chemicals can lead to health problems such as liver damage, thyroid disease, fertility issues, and cancer, according to the European Environment Agency.
In their 2020 study, the Florida researchers didn’t found traces of PFAS in plastic straws. However, more recently in 2023, investigators in Belgium replicated the experiment and expanded it, testing out straws made of plastic, paper, bamboo, and glass. In that study, the researchers found that nearly all straws contained traces of PFAS, though paper and plant-based straws contained more. Notably, stainless steel contained no traces of PFAS.
Not so environmentally friendly, after all. While paper straws have been hailed as a responsible alternative to plastic straws, the reality isn’t so rosy. As mentioned above, paper straws are confirmed to contain forever chemicals, which got their name precisely because they persistent in the environment. This means that, like plastic straws, paper straws hang around after we throw them away for a long time.
Furthermore, there are some studies that say that producing paper straws leaves behind a larger carbon footprint than producing paper ones.
Why doesn’t Trump like paper straws? When it comes to why Trump hates paper straws, the answer, like many, is both personal and political.
"These things don't work. I've had them many times, and on occasion, they break, they explode," Trump said at a signing ceremony for the executive order on straws. "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."
As for the political aspect, Trump has been on a crusade to eliminate anything he considers “woke” or liberal, and paper straws fit that description. In a fact sheet, the White House stated that cities and states across America had banned plastic straws and “[caved] to pressure from woke activists who prioritize symbolism over science.”
What about plastic straws? As for the possible environmental consequences for using plastic straws, Trump claims it won’t be a problem: “I don’t think that plastic is going to affect the shark very much as they’re eating, as they’re munching their way through the ocean.”
The reality is much different, though. Plastic straws contain plastic, which breaks down into microplastics in the environment where they’re eaten by marine animals. Microplastics then make their way back into the food chain and have appeared in human blood and tissue.
According to the National Academies of Science, approximately 8 million metric tons of plastic make their way into the ocean every year. When you break it down, it means that we dump one garbage truck of plastic into the sea every minute.
The bottom line. It’s very hard to classify something as being either good or bad for you. In the cases that you manage to do so, sometimes what’s good for you is bad for the environment. You can only do the best you can with the information available to you, and unfortunately, there’s still a lot we don’t know about the straw issue.
If you want to avoid all these questions and unknowns, there’s a simple solution: Don’t use straws of any kind. Your glass will do just fine.
Images | Ana Lucia Cottone | FlyD
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