Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on February 11, 2025
President Donald Trump in a new executive order inked on Monday encouraged the U.S. government and consumers to purchase plastic drinking straws at a time when several countries have issued a ban on non-biodegradable single-use plastics.
The new order backtracks on Biden administration's efforts to lower consumption of such plastics, which damage ecosystems and contaminate food supplies, as well as a policy to end the use of all single-use plastic products on federal lands by 2032.
Following is the list of countries that have imposed bans on single-use plastics after the United Nations on World Environment Day in 2018, called for "biggest-ever worldwide cleanup" of plastic pollution:
Country | Date of ban announcement | Related articles |
Nigeria | June 26, 2024 | Nigeria's ban on single-use plastics, which was announced and started with government offices last year, expanded nation-wide in January. |
India | July 1, 2022 | India imposed a ban on single-use plastics on items ranging from straws to cigarette packs. |
Chile | February 2022 | Chile phases out use of plastic cups, straws, takeout container, and more after a law regulating the single-use plastics enters into force. |
France | 2021 | France banned plastic straws, cups, cutlery and styrofoam takeaway boxes from 2021. |
England | October 1, 2020 | England's ban on supplying plastic straws, stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton buds was imposed in 2020. |
Kenya | June 2020 | Kenya imposed toughest laws against plastic bags in 2017. It announced ban on plastic items including straws, as per Associated Press. |
Bangladesh | January 2020 | Bangladesh's High Court ordered the government to ban single-use plastics in coastal areas, hotels and restaurants. |
China | 2020 | China unveiled its plans to ban use of plastics, including single-use straws by the end of 2020, according to BBC News. |
Vancouver, Canada | November 28, 2019 | Vancouver was one of the first major Canadian cities to enact a wide-reaching ban on the use of plastic straws and bags. It was imposed from April 2020. |
Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, United States | 2019 | Some cities in the U.S. had proposed or enacted plastic straw bans and restrictions. |
Tanzania | July 2019 | Tanzania banned single-use plastics. |
Taiwan | July 2019 | Taiwan initiated its first stage ban on single-use plastic straws, as per Taiwan News. |
Queensland, Australia | July 2018 | A few Australian states including Queensland banned the use of single-use plastics which further added plastic straws, according to Queensland government's website. |
Source: Media reports
(Reporting by Anuja Bharat Mistry in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
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