Trump Signs Executive Order Promoting Plastic Straws, Dismisses Environmental Concerns

In an attempt to stall his predecessor's efforts to phase out single-use plastics and address trash, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday that encourages the U.S. government and consumers to purchase plastic drinking straws.

"We're going back to plastic straws," Trump told reporters at the White House as he signed the order, saying that paper straws "don't work."

"I don't think plastic is going to affect a shark very much, as they're munching their way through the ocean," Trump said.

President Joe Biden, a Democrat and Trump's predecessor, has suggested environmental policies to reduce the use of single-use, non-biodegradable plastics that pollute food supplies and harm ecosystems. Additionally, his administration supported a global agreement to limit the production of plastics.

In one of the first actions of his second administration, Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate deal for the second time, and Monday's executive order was part of a larger eroding of his environmental commitments.

The Biden administration's policy to ban all single-use plastics on government property by 2032 was also revoked by Trump.

Numerous single-use plastics, which are mostly made from petrochemicals and are used to make shopping bags, bottles, and other disposable things, are prohibited in dozens of nations.

According to OECD study released last year, the amount of plastic garbage discarded into the environment is expected to increase from 81 million metric tons in 2020 to 119 million tons in 2040 if no additional limits are implemented.

Major plastic-producing countries were reluctant to commit to legally enforceable output restrictions, which caused negotiations on a worldwide pact to control plastic pollution to collapse last year. Aleksandar Rankovic, director of an environmental think organization, anticipates that the US will side with Saudi Arabia and Russia.