Trump signs executive order requiring US to return to plastic straws.

Trump signs  executive order  requiring US  to return to plastic straws.
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Donald Trump has repeatedly  criticized the use of paper  straws. US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order  that ends a US government effort to replace plastic straws with  paper ones.
The order, which takes effect immediately, reverses a measure signed by former President Joe Biden, who called plastic pollution a  "crisis".
Last week, Trump  – who sold branded plastic straws during his 2020 election campaign  – said  that paper straws  "don't work" and  disintegrate "disgustingly" in  consumers' mouths.
By 2024, Biden  has ordered a  halt to  the US  government's purchase of plastic straws, as well as plastic cutlery and  packaging. Trump's directive orders government agencies to stop  purchasing paper straws and calls for a strategy to  phase them  out nationwide.
"We're going back to plastic  straws," Trump told reporters at the White House on  Monday.
"These things  don't work,  I've had them many times, and  sometimes they break, they explode. If  something is hot, they  don't last very long, like a  few minutes, sometimes a matter of seconds.  It's a ridiculous  situation," Trump  said. Trump Straws: How the US  President is  Using Straws to  Defeat Liberals
As part of a  broader effort to  combat plastic pollution, the Biden administration  announced last year that it would phase out single-use plastics from food packaging, operations and events by  2027 and from all federal operations by  2035.
Trump has  long been a critic of paper  straws.
During his  2020 re-election campaign, which he ultimately lost,  Trump-branded plastic straws were sold  — at $15 for a pack of 10  — as a replacement for what he called  "liberal" paper  straws.
In total, the campaign  brought in nearly $500,000  in straw sales in  its first few weeks  alone.
Some statistics  indicate that the number of disposable straws used in the  United States is 500 million  per day - although  this figure is  highly controversial and the  actual total  may be  around half  that number. A number of  U.S. cities and  states, including Seattle,  Washington, California, Oregon and New  Jersey, have  passed regulations that limit the use of plastic straws or require businesses  to provide them only after  customers request them.
Statistics from the United Nations Environment Program show that 460 million  tons of plastic are produced  each year, contributing to ocean  litter and microplastics  that can affect human  health.
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Some studies have shown that paper straws, however, contain significant amounts of  "forever chemicals" such as Trump signs  executive order  requiring US  to return to plastic straws.olyfluoroalkyl substances, or  PFAS.
PFAS can  persist in the environment for decades,  contaminating groundwater and  causing various health  problems.

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