A government-backed study in South Korea has found that paper straws, long promoted as an eco-friendly alternative to plastic, may actually cause more environmental harm and pose a greater cancer risk when assessed across their full life cycle, from production to disposal.
The research, conducted by South Korea’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, compared four straw types — conventional plastic, paper, biodegradable plastic, and bio-based polyethylene made from materials like sugarcane — across 16 environmental impact categories.
Conventional plastic straws came out ahead in 10 of those 16 categories, including climate change, human toxicity, particulate matter pollution, and acidification, according to the study.
Paper straws, by contrast, were found to have 6.33 times the carcinogenic impact of standard plastic straws and roughly twice the acidification impact, a measure of how a product changes the pH of oceans and soil.
Biodegradable plastic straws fared somewhat better than paper but still trailed conventional plastic, with 3.34 times the carcinogenic impact and 1.98 times the acidification impact. Bio-based polyethylene straws performed worst of all, producing 16 times the carcinogenic impact and six times the acidification damage of conventional plastic straws.
The study also challenges the assumption that paper straws are more recyclable. Researchers found that because the straws are so small, they frequently slip through sorting machinery at recycling facilities and are rarely actually recycled. Water-resistant coatings and industrial glues used in their manufacture also make them harder to break down, requiring more energy to process and allowing microplastics to end up in recycled material anyway.
South Korean lawmaker Kim Wi-sang said, according to a report by the New York Post, “The government must acknowledge the failure of its greenwashing policy, which fixated on ineffective substitute materials.”
A years-long policy debate
The findings arrive after roughly a decade of environmental and political debate over plastic straws, which many cities and businesses banned or phased out in favor of paper alternatives.
President Donald Trump has long criticized the push away from plastic straws. In 2019, he questioned why liberal cities were banning them, saying, “I do think we have bigger problems than plastic straws.”
Last year, Trump signed an executive order ending the Biden administration’s promotion of paper straws and directing the federal government to return to using plastic ones.
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