President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday evening to transition the U.S. government away from paper straws, even stating concerns that they could ‘explode’.

The decision was hinted at by Trump on Truth Social on Friday, where he vowed to sign an executive order halting the ‘absurd Biden initiative for Paper Straws, which are ineffective,’ and advocating for a return to plastic straws.

He further promoted the move during his sit-down Sunday with Fox News’ Bret Baier that was tied to the Super Bowl. 

The executive order signed on Monday directly addressed the issue of drinking straws, with Staff Secretary Will Scharf highlighting the uncertainty regarding the environmental impacts of paper versus plastic straws and the financial resources being drained by the U.S. government in supporting this shift.

‘We’re going back to plastic straws. These things don’t work,’ Trump then told reporters in the Oval Office. ‘I’ve had them many times, and on occasion, they break, they explode.’ 

It’s unclear what Trump meant about paper straws exploding, but people generally complain about them getting mushy. 

‘If something is hot they don’t last very long. Like a matter of minutes, sometimes a matter of seconds, it’s a ridiculous situation,’ Trump said. ‘And I don’t think that plastic is going to affect a shark very much as they are eating, as they are munching their way through the ocean.’ 

Trump’s move Monday is part of his broader push to roll back any sort of environmental regulations backed by the previous administration. 

Last year President Joe Biden announced a plan to phase out the federal government’s use of all single-use plastics by 2035. 

Plastics are contributing to a major pollution problem and are created by burning fossil fuels.  

Using less plastic can kill two birds with one stone when it comes to environmental impact. 

A handful of states had previously banned plastic straws, as the single-use items contribute to plastic pollution and have been shown to be harmful to some wildlife. 

But Trump stirred up crowds by getting them to chant ‘Drill Baby Drill’ and mocked progressive Democrats’ plan to implement a ‘Green New Deal,’ a government-backed initiative to train American workers on green jobs. 

‘You know what’s one thing I did last night that’s really popular?’ Trump asked Baier in their sit-down that aired in fully Monday night. ‘The straw.’ 

‘They gave us a paper straw. It melts, it’s horrible, you start – they should make it in flavors because by the time you’re finished – it is so horrible,’ Trump said. ‘I ended the paper straw, we’re going to go back to plastic.’

Baier said that was a 90/10 issue – meaning it would be overwhelmingly popular. 

‘But this was a Biden issue. A big Biden issue. As if Biden really knew,’ Trump said, mocking the 82-year-old former president. 

When Trump was running against Biden in 2020, his campaign sold plastic straws as a way to mock the Democratic Party’s environmentalism. 

‘Liberal paper straws don’t work,’ the Trump 2020 campaign website’s store said at the time. ‘STAND WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP and buy your pack of recyclable straws today.’ 

Environmental groups did not support Trump’s action. 

‘President Trump is headed in the wrong direction on single-use plastics,’ Oceana U.S. Plastics Campaign Director Christy Leavitt said in a statement Monday. ‘The President’s executive order on plastics spells trouble for our oceans, health, and communities. Plastic is everywhere. It’s choking our oceans, sitting at the deepest point of the seafloor, and raining in our national parks.’

Leavitt blasted Trump’s move saying it was ‘more about messaging than finding solutions.’ 

‘President Trump should be making the U.S. a global leader in addressing the plastics crisis at the source by reducing the production and use of single-use plastics and moving to reuse and refill system,’ she said.