HONOLULU (KHON2) — No more paper straws. President Donald Trump expressed his distaste for biodegradable, paper straws earlier in the week by signing an executive order to get rid of them and bring back plastic straws.
“We’re going back to plastic straws, [paper straws] don’t work,” President Donald Trump said after signing an executive order that essentially rolls back Biden-era efforts to go green and phase out single use plastics with paper straws.
According to the White House, the order ends the “forced use of paper straws” directing the federal government to stop purchasing them, ensuring they are no longer provided in federal buildings across the US in the next 45 days.
Senator Jarret Keohokalole said the only impact locally, is within federal offices.
“We have a major plastic pollution problem if you go to any beach in Hawaii,” Keohokalole explained. “And so that’s why, at the county level, they’ve taken the action that they’ve taken.”
The action he was referring to is the ban on the sale and use of single-use plastics, including straws, implemented by Honolulu City Council that took effect in January 2022.
“In terms of the city, I don’t really see any impact on city implementation of our waste management policy,” Honolulu City Councilmember Matt Weyere said.
According to Weyer, the city is continuing its efforts to go green.
“We have to really do what is best for for taxpayers, right in terms of reducing financial impact on them, and also for an environment, like reducing the micro plastics that we’re seeing all around, not just in the ocean, but also in our our bodies,” he explained. “The more we can send into recycling or composting, the more we’ll reduce what we need to put into our landfill.”
Rafael Bergstrom, executive director of Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii that works tirelessly removing trash from local beaches, said it’s not just about straws. Adding that the convenience of single use plastics is not the answer.
“So much scientific evidence is showing the toxicity of them, how prevalent they are in the environment. So it’s so much bigger than the straw,” Bergstrom said. “It’s about a bigger issue of us just understanding our impacts on our environment, and that’s going to get us towards solving the problems that we have.”