Washington: US President Donald Trump signed a decree on Monday that pushes on Monday to return to plastic straws, saying that their impact on marine life was limited and that the documents favored by environmentalists “explode”.
The order of the republican Trump reverses a target fixed by its Democratic predecessor Joe Biden to eliminate single -use plastic utensils such as the straws between government agencies by 2035.
“We return to plastic straws,” Trump told journalists by signing order in the oval office.
“These things do not work, I have had them several times, and on occasion, they break, they explode. If something is hot, they do not last very long, as a question of minutes, sometimes a question of seconds.
Environmentalists have long campaigned for the end of the use of plastic straws and other utensils, saying that they pollute marine environments in particular.
But Trump – who long seemed upset by paper straws – rejected their concerns.
“I don’t think plastic will affect a shark because they eat because they snack on their way through the ocean,” said Trump.
Presenting the document for Trump to sign, the secretary of the White House staff, Will Scharf, said that the environmental impact was “completely questionable” and that American consumers were “very dissatisfied with their straws”.
Trump, who called climate change a “scam”, has published a series of environmental orders since returning to the White House for a second term.
He withdrew from the Paris climate change agreement shortly after its inauguration on January 20 and is committed to “drilling, baby, forest” for oil.
