Executive Order 14208
| Ending Procurement and Forced Use of Paper Straws Edit this on Wikidata | |
| Seal of the President of the United States | |
| Type | Executive order |
|---|---|
| Number | 14208 Edit this on Wikidata |
| President | Donald Trump Edit this on Wikidata |
| Signed | February 10, 2025 Edit this on Wikidata |
| Federal Register details | |
| Federal Register document number | 2025-02735 Edit this on Wikidata |
| Publication date | February 14, 2025 Edit this on Wikidata |
Executive Order 14208, titled "Ending Procurement and Forced Use of Paper Straws", is an executive order signed by U.S. president Donald Trump in an attempt to end the use of paper straws and returning the use of plastic straws.
Background
[edit ]According to the nonprofit magazine Grist , advocacy against single-use plastic straws in the United States began around 2011.[1] At that time, the national media widely reported on research that had been conducted by a child from Vermont, using information provided by plastic straw manufacturers, that showed that the United States disposed of approximately 500 million plastic straws daily.[1] Later studies showed that the actual value was lower, at between 170 million and 390 million.[1] The push against the use of plastic straws received another boon in 2015, when a marine biologist published a video showing a turtle having a plastic straw that had become lodged in its nostrils removed.[1] [2] Around this time, plastic straw bans began to be implemented in various jurisdictions around the world, including Taiwan and the Australian state of Queensland, with straws made of alternative materials, such as paper and nonpetroleum bioplastics, largely replacing them.[1] In the United States, the market share of plastic straws declined from nearly 100 percent to about 75 percent between 2017 and 2022.[1] The push against plastic straws is part of a larger effort to reduce plastic pollution, as roughly 40 percent of plastic production is for single-use plastic products, such as straws.[3]
By 2025, many companies had begun initiatives to phase out single-use plastic products,[3] and several states, counties, and cities, had prohibitions on plastic straws.[2] [4] In 2024,[5] Joe Biden, during his presidency, introduced policy that sought to phase out the purchase of single-use plastic products by the federal government of the United States starting in 2027,[3] [2] with additional phase-outs by the 2030s.[6] [7] At the time, the federal government was the single largest purchaser of plastic straws in the country, supplying them in federal offices, national parks, and other federal properties.[8]
Trump's stance on paper straws
[edit ]Donald Trump has been a vocal critic against paper straws, saying of his opponents during his 2020 presidential reelection campaign, "They want to ban straws. Has anyone tried those paper straws? They're not working too good."[3] [5] He further attacked them as "liberal" and stated that they fall apart during use.[3] In 2019, his campaign team sold Trump-branded plastic straws at 15ドル (equivalent to 18ドル in 2024) per 10-pack,[7] generating almost 500,000ドル (610,000ドル in 2024) in sales.[3] [4]
On February 10, 2025, several weeks into his second term as president, Trump signed the executive order, which rescinded Biden's phaseout of single-use plastic by the federal government.[5] As part of the order, Trump stated that he was bringing an end to the "irrational campaign against plastic straws," and said that it is "the policy of the United States to end the use of paper straws".[2] The order specifically called on the federal government to stop purchasing paper straws and called for the creation of a "National Strategy to End the Use of Paper Straws" within 45 days of the order's promulgation.[2] During the signing in the Oval Office, Trump said:[4] [8]
We're going back to plastic straws. (Paper straws) don't work. 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.
Concerning the environmental impact of plastic straws, he said, "I don't think that plastic is going to affect the shark very much as they're eating, as they're munching their way through the ocean."[6]
Response
[edit ]Regarding the order, Forbes reported on it in the context of other anti-environmentalist actions undertaken by Trump early in his second presidency, which have included withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement and proposing the opening up of area in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling.[7] The order has additionally drawn condemnation from many environmental activists and organizations, such as Oceana.[9] In contrast, the order has been viewed positively by representatives of the plastics industry.[3] Margaret Hartmann, the senior editor for the Intelligencer website of New York magazine, humorously posited that the order may stem from Trump's phobia of sharks.[10]
References
[edit ]- ^ a b c d e f Winters, Joseph (February 18, 2025). "Trump's attack on paper straws is mostly symbolic — but the plastics industry is celebrating". Grist . Archived from the original on February 19, 2025. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Fenston, Jacob (February 11, 2025). "Trump says 'we're going back to plastic straws.' Is the paper straw dead?". NPR . Archived from the original on February 13, 2025. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g "The Straw Wars: Why Donald Trump wants paper straws gone and plastic back". Firstpost . Network18 Group. February 11, 2025. Archived from the original on February 19, 2025. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
- ^ a b c Debusmann, Bernd Jr. (February 10, 2025). "Donald Trump signs order shifting US back towards plastic straws". BBC. Archived from the original on February 17, 2025. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
- ^ a b c Glebova, Diana (February 10, 2025). "Trump signs executive order reversing Biden's plastic straw ban". New York Post . ISSN 2641-4139. OCLC 12032860. Archived from the original on February 15, 2025. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
- ^ a b Daly, Matthew (February 11, 2025). "'Back to plastic': Trump signs order for plastic straws as he declares paper ones 'don't work'". Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 17, 2025. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
- ^ a b c Roeloffs, Mary Whitfill (February 7, 2025). "Trump Promises Executive Order Against Paper Straws: 'Back to Plastic!'". Forbes . ISSN 0015-6914. OCLC 6465733. Archived from the original on February 10, 2025. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
- ^ a b Yurkevich, Vanessa (February 14, 2025). "Trump is getting rid of paper straws. That's (partly) a good thing, environmentalists say". CNN . Archived from the original on February 16, 2025. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
- ^ Milman, Oliver (February 8, 2025). "Trump to reverse Biden's plan to phase out plastic straws across US government". The Guardian . ISSN 1756-3224. OCLC 60623878. Archived from the original on February 12, 2025. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
- ^ Hartmann, Margaret (February 11, 2025). "Is Trump's Paper-Straw Ban Really About His Shark Phobia?". Intelligencer. New York . Vox Media. ISSN 0028-7369. OCLC 1760010. Archived from the original on February 13, 2025. Retrieved February 19, 2025.