Donald Trump has claimed his move to scrap paper straws and return to plastic won’t harm the environment, as sharks can eat them.
The US president signed an order yesterday to reverse the Biden administration’s push away from single-use plastics in government facilities.
Trump’s predecessor introduced the move in November last year with the aim of ‘protecting public health and the environment by reducing plastic pollution’.
Campaigners cite plastic in the ocean as one of the major risks to marine life, with the US government’s Marine Debris Program saying ingestion can lead to ‘loss of nutrition, internal injury, intestinal blockage, starvation, and even death’.
But Trump disagreed, arguing: ‘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.’
His move will mean the use of paper straws is banned in all federal buildings, with the purchase and distribution of them halted.
The president has railed against the biodegradable alternatives for a while, saying they ‘don’t work’ and dissolve in people’s mouths ‘disgustingly’.
Trump said yesterday: ‘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.’
During his re-election effort in 2019, he even sold Trump-branded plastic straws from his online shop.
Efforts to rid the world of plastic straws ramped up after David Attenborough’s documentary series Blue Planet II highlighted their impact in 2018.
That same year, it was estimated that 100,000 marine mammals and turtles and one million sea birds are killed by marine plastic pollution every year.
Because pieces of plastic float, break into small pieces, and are often colourful, they are particularly tempting to hungry sealife.
Some tiny creatures – including wax worms and mealworms – have been found to be able to digest plastic, but sharks are not among them.
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