Germana Carillo US President Donald Trump signed an executive order stating that government departments and agencies should no longer purchase and use paper straws in the future
In what has become a never-ending tidal wave of executive orders, Trump continues to make them at an almost breakneck pace. His more recent ones, on climate and environmental policies alone, are reversing many of those put in place by the Biden administration.
Many believed that his withdrawal from the Paris Agreement or the removal of all references to climate change on government websites was rock bottom for his environmental policy. They were mistaken. Brick by brick, the former president is dismantling Biden’s legacy, reconstructing the future of environmental policy not only in the United States but around the world.
Banning paper straws
Trump’s latest move is a ban on the use of paper straws, claiming that they “don’t work” and don’t last long. Instead, he wants the federal government to return exclusively to plastic straws.
“It’s a ridiculous situation. We’re going back to plastic straws,” Trump said while signing an executive order reversing federal procurement policies that encouraged paper straws and restricted plastic ones.
The order requires federal agencies to stop the purchasing of paper straws “and otherwise ensure that paper straws are no longer available in agency buildings.”
A direct reversal of Biden’s policy
The new move follows Trump’s long-standing opposition to paper straws. During his 2019 re-election campaign, he even sold Trump-branded reusable plastic straws for $15 a pack of ten.
His new order specifically reverses Biden’s policy, which was phasing out the usage of single-use plastics in federal procurement. Biden’s proposal was going to prohibit plastic straws, along with other single-use plastic items, from food services, events, and packaging by 2027 and from all federal operations by 2035.
