President Donald Trump has defended his decision to scrap paper straws and return to plastic, claiming it won’t harm the environment as sharks can eat them.
The US signed an order reversing the Biden administration’s push away from single-use plastics in government facilities.
Trump’s predecessor 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 argue that plastic in the ocean is 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’.
However, Trump defended the controversial move arguing against the scientists saying: “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.”
Paper straws will now be banned in all federal buildings, with the purchase and distribution of them halted.
He says the biodegradable alternatives ‘don’t work’ and dissolve in people’s mouths ‘disgustingly’.
He said: “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 the new President even sold Trump-branded plastic straws from his online shop.
Efforts to rid the world of single use plastic straws ramped up after David Attenborough’s documentary series Blue Planet II which aired in 2018 and showed the impact they have on marine life.
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.
The plastic floats, breaks off into tiny pieces and are often colourful so are tempting for hungry sealife in search of food.
Some tiny creatures such as wax worms and mealworms have been found to be able to digest plastic, but sharks are not among them.
It is just the latest in a string of controversial orders Trump has signed since taking office last month.
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