US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order ending a US government effort to replace plastic straws with paper. The order, which takes effect immediately, reverses a measure signed by former President Joe Biden, who had called plastic pollution a “crisis”. Trump said paper straws “don’t work” and “disgustingly” dissolve in the mouths of consumers. In 2024, Biden ordered a gradual end to US government purchases of plastic straws, as well as plastic cutlery and packaging. Trump’s directive orders government agencies to stop buying paper straws and calls for a strategy to eliminate them 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 on occasion, they break, they explode. 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.
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