{"id":695968,"date":"2026-10-30T22:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T22:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=695968"},"modified":"2026-10-30T22:25:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T22:25:00","slug":"a-soggy-paper-straw-is-worse-for-the-environment-than-a-plastic-one-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=695968","title":{"rendered":"A Soggy Paper Straw Is Worse For The Environment Than A Plastic One; Study Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Soggy Paper Straw Is Worse For The Environment Than A Plastic One; Study Finds<\/span><\/p>\n

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Authored by Bryan Hyde via American Greatness<\/em><\/a>,<\/em><\/p>\n

A South Korean government study has found that paper straws carry a significantly heavier environmental and manufacturing toll than traditional plastic ones<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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The Daily Wire reports<\/a> that a team of researchers from South Korea recently tested four different types of straws, including paper, plastic, biodegradable plastic, and sugarcane-based (bio-based polyethylene), across 16 categories.<\/p>\n

Conventional plastic straws surprisingly outperformed the alternatives, achieving the lowest environmental impact in 10 out of 16 categories<\/strong>, including climate change indicators and greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n

The findings challenge the widespread assumption<\/a> that swapping single-use plastics for paper automatically benefits the planet.<\/p>\n

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Paper straw: “I’m saving the planet.”
Korea’s environment ministry study: 6.33x plastic’s carcinogenic impact over its life cycle, 2x acidification.
Paper straw, 3 sips in: also dissolving.
Researchers’ real fix: no straw unless you ask. pic.twitter.com\/83LNOcfeD9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Jiasen \u68ee \ud83c\udf75 (@JiasenL) October 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

According to the study<\/a> by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, paper straws scored more than six times higher than their plastic rival on the study’s measure of carcinogenic impact<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The study also found paper straws have more than two times the impact on environmental acidity, meaning they might be contributing<\/a> to pollution by making soil and water more acidic, potentially harming plants, animals, and ecosystems.<\/p>\n

Conventional plastic straws unexpectedly outperformed the alternatives, achieving the lowest environmental impact in 10 out of 16 categories, including climate change indicators and greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n

Despite being made of paper, single-use paper straws are not recyclable<\/strong> as their small size allows them to fall through sorting machinery.<\/p>\n

Researchers reported that paper straws are also frequently contaminated with liquid, chemical adhesives, and synthetic coatings used to prevent them from becoming immediately soggy, according to The Daily Wire.<\/p>\n

Sugarcane-based straws received the worst results<\/a>, with 16.18 times the human carcinogenic impact, 5.9 times the acidification impact, and had the largest impact in 10 of the categories.<\/p>\n

Researchers said that after interviewing over 1,000 people, 87.5 percent of them preferred plastic straws<\/strong>, and roughly 54 percent said they supported straws only when asked for them.<\/p>\n

Rather than continuing to mandate ineffective substitute materials, South Korean policymakers and researchers recommend governments shift toward substantive reduction policies.<\/p>\n

Their ultimate suggestion is to skip single-use straws entirely or implement “ask-only” policies at businesses<\/strong>, nudging consumers toward reusable options like stainless steel or glass.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
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A Soggy Paper Straw Is Worse For The Environment Than A Plastic One; Study Finds Authored by Bryan Hyde via American Greatness, A South Korean government study has found that paper straws carry a significantly heavier environmental and manufacturing toll than traditional plastic ones. The Daily Wire reports that a team of researchers from South… Continue reading A Soggy Paper Straw Is Worse For The Environment Than A Plastic One; Study Finds<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-695968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=695968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=695968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=695968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=695968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}