Overall, it’s true that paper straws are probably much better for the environment than their plastic counterparts. However, paper straws still come with their own set of environmental disadvantages.

For one, many people believe that paper products are less resource-intensive to manufacture than plastic straws. After all, paper is biodegradable and comes from trees, which is a renewable resource.

Unfortunately, that is simply not the case! In fact, paper products in general require more energy and resources to manufacture than plastic products (Source). This may seem counter-intuitive, but it’s actually true!

For example, the production of paper bags uses four times as much energy as the production of plastic ones. In general, more greenhouse gases are emitted during the production of paper products than their plastic counterparts.

This occurs because fossil fuels power the machinery and equipment used in the production of both plastic and paper straws. But since paper products are more energy-intensive to produce, the production of paper straws actually uses more resources (and emits more greenhouse gases) than the production of plastic straws!

Making matters worse, paper straws also have the ability to harm animals if they are littered into the ocean, much like plastic straws. With that being said, however, paper straws will generally still be less harmful than plastic, because it is a lot less durable, and should biodegrade.

Why did I say, “plastic straws should biodegrade”? Well, I’ll talk about that next.