Proclaiming ‘Back to Plastic,' Trump plans executive order on straw bans

On Feb. 10, Trump signed the order. Here's our updated story and reaction

President Donald Trump waded into plastics debates Feb. 7, announcing he would sign an executive order against what he termed federal government restrictions on the use of plastic straws.

"I will be signing an Executive Order next week ending the ridiculous Biden push for Paper Straws, which don't work," Trump wrote. "BACK TO PLASTIC."

It wasn't immediately clear what specific action from former President Joe Biden's government Trump was referring to, or if the Trump executive order would include other plastics-related measures beyond a defense of straws.

Join Steve Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. for more insight on this topic in our Plastics in Politics Live program

In July 2024, Biden issued an 83-page report on plastics policy that included calls for phasing out federal procurement of single-use plastics by 2027 in foodservice operations, events and packaging. But that report was never implemented.

Still, the Trump announcement prompted the Plastics Industry Association to issue a statement saying it hoped that straws would be "just the beginning."

"We know that plastic is the best material for nearly everything it is used for, while being sustainable," said CEO Matt Seaholm. "Straws are just the beginning — 'Back to Plastic' is a movement we should all get behind.

"We appreciate President Trump's leadership in recognizing the value of plastics and look forward to working with his Administration to advance our industry," Seaholm added.

One environmental group, however, urged Trump to continue to move away from single-use plastics in federal facilities, saying that ultimately moving to reusable packaging will save taxpayer money.

"In the final months of the Biden Administration, an executive order was issued that discouraged the federal government's use of single-use plastics," said Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics. "It was a common sense policy that came so late in the administration that it was not implemented.

"It is unwise to not continue it," said Enck, who was a regional administrator in the Environmental Protection Agency under President Barack Obama. "Moving away from single-use plastics to reusable products will save tax dollars. Single-use disposable plastics are a waste of tax dollars."

It's not the first time President Trump has waded into the plastics straw debate. In 2019, his then-reelection campaign unveiled a pack of 10 Trump-branded plastics straws it was selling for $15.

His campaign said they were recyclable, but that claim got pushback from environmental marketing experts, who said it ran afoul of Federal Trade Commission green marketing rules that require a product to be recyclable for 60 percent of the public to make such advertising claims.

The Biden administration had other initiatives aimed at plastic straws and single-use plastics, including a plan in the Department of the Interior to limit disposable plastics in U.S. national parks and other federal lands. That initiative prompted Republicans in Congress to pass a budget measure in 2023 that would have prevented the Biden administration from banning plastic straws in national parks.

The Republican leading that debate, Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., argued it's not clear which type of straw is best for the environment, with paper straws sometimes having PFAS coatings and being "absolutely despised by many Americans" for getting soggy very quickly.

He said he wanted Washington to not "force consumers to make choices that are absolutely not clear in terms of the environmental impact."

Democrats in that 2023 debate retorted that the U.S. does a poor job of recycling its single-use plastics.

Trump's Feb. 7 post prompted a wave of comments on social media.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., for example, praised Trump's planned executive order and posted on X, formerly Twitter, a clip from a Senate hearing on plastics policy in the last session of Congress where he questioned an environmental group witness over her use of plastic. Mullin wrote that "if radical environmentalists want to 'end all plastic,' they should quit using it."

But one X user, with the display name Space Cadet, told Mullin that they believed some plastics products can be replaced sustainably.

"Markwayne, to be fair, there are plastic products that can easily be replaced with sustainable choices," that account wrote. "That includes plastic straws. We've used bamboo straws for a long time. They're sturdy and eco-friendly. If you take care of them they last about a year."

In response to Trump's announcement, the American Chemistry Council's plastics unit said it wanted to work with the Trump administration on innovations in plastics and growing manufacturing jobs.

"We appreciate President Trump's recognition of plastics' utility in everyday life," Ross Eisenberg, president of America's Plastic Makers. "Beyond straws, plastics are essential to nearly every sector of our economy, supporting manufacturing, innovation and directly employing nearly 700,000 Americans. We see significant potential to create more jobs that tap into U.S. innovation by scaling up solutions that capture and remake significantly more of the plastics that currently end up in a landfill."