Companies worldwide claim that banning plastic straws and replacing them with paper ones will help save the oceans and the sea turtles in them. But straws are only the tip of the iceberg.
Plastic straws make up only about 2,000 tons of the nearly 9 million tons of plastic polluted into the ocean each year, while much larger sources go unnoticed. Almost half of the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is abandoned fishing nets. Banning straws only scratches the surface and lets people feel like they have done their part to save sea turtles.
Paper straws are not as clean as they look, either. A 2023 study from the University of Antwerp tested 39 brands of straws and found PFAS, harmful man-made chemicals, in 90% of the paper brands, a higher rate than the plastic ones. Their data also showed that stainless steel straws were the only type with none.
Paper straws are also worse to use. A 2024 study in Applied Sciences found that saliva soaks into paper straws and makes them lose much of their firmness and structural integrity, so they stick to your lips and bend, making them hard to drink from. A study from the University of Arkansas had people drink cold tea through straws made of different materials, and women in the study preferred the same tea when they drank it through copper or stainless steel straws rather than paper ones.
If we are trying to protect the environment, the better choice is a reusable steel straw or no straw at all, because a paper straw barely helps the oceans, carries its own chemicals, and makes drinking less enjoyable.
Sources: Seth Borenstein, "Science Says: Amount of straws, plastic pollution is huge," Associated Press, Lebreton et al., "Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic," Scientific Reports, Boisacq et al., "Assessment of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in commercially available drinking straws," Food Additives & Contaminants, Djekic et al., "Confronting Various Quality Perspectives of Paper Straws," Applied Sciences and Pramudya, Singh and Seo, "A sip of joy: Straw materials can influence emotional responses to, and sensory attributes of cold tea," Food Quality and Preference