Paper straws, PFAS and straw bans: what the evidence says

Few objects have carried as much moral weight per gram as the drinking straw. Around 2018 it became the symbol of plastic pollution. Cities banned it, chains swapped it for paper, and people who still used plastic ones got dirty looks.

Then the paper straws went soggy, researchers found forever chemicals in them, and in 2025 the US president signed an executive order against them. Here’s what the evidence says about each kind of straw, why some people need plastic ones, and how much straw bans actually achieved.

Straws turn up in other articles here. Our guide to bottles and travel mugs covers built-in straws and how to clean them, stainless steel grades and silicone have their own pieces, and our takeout guide covers laws that make straws opt-in. This piece doesn’t repeat them.

PFAS in paper and bamboo straws

Paper falls apart when wet. To stop that, manufacturers make it water-resistant, and one way is with PFAS, the “forever chemicals” in our PFAS explainer. PFAS can also get into plant materials earlier in the supply chain, from contaminated raw materials or soil.

Two surveys of straws on sale have looked:

• United States, 2021. Researchers tested 43 brands: 29 paper, 9 other plant-based (such as bamboo) and 5 plastic. They found 21 different PFAS in the paper and plant-based straws, and no measurable PFAS in the plastic ones. Amounts ranged from 0.043 to 29.1 nanograms per straw, with a median of 0.554. PFOA was among the most common. When the worst brand was soaked in water, about two-thirds of its extractable PFAS came out, at cold, room and hot temperatures.
• Belgium, 2023. Researchers tested 39 brands made of paper, bamboo, glass, stainless steel and plastic. They found PFAS in almost all types of straw except stainless steel, more often in paper and bamboo. According to the publisher’s press release, that meant PFAS in 18 of 20 paper brands, 4 of 5 bamboo, 3 of 4 plastic and 2 of 5 glass, and none of the 5 steel. The release says PFOA was the most common, and that the ultra-short-chain PFAS TFA and TFMS turned up too.

Two caveats. First, the plastic results disagree: none in the US study, three of four brands in the Belgian one. Both used small numbers of plastic brands. Second, the amounts are small. The Belgian researchers describe the concentrations as low, and found few differences between materials. The US authors think some of what they found may be manufacturing impurities or contamination, not a deliberate coating.

The big unknown is how much reaches you. The Belgian team didn’t test whether PFAS leached into drinks. A small 2026 pilot soaked nine straws (six paper, three plastic) in human saliva for ten minutes. Three of the five PFAS it looked for (PFOA, PFOS and PFHxS) were below detection in every sample, though another, PFDA, showed up in two straws, and the plasticiser DBP came out of both kinds. That’s nine straws, so it settles nothing.

So: the Belgian researchers say that at these levels, and given most people use straws only occasionally, the risk to health is limited, though PFAS can build up in the body over time. The bigger point is environmental. A straw sold as the green choice that carries forever chemicals into compost or landfill isn’t quite what anyone ordered. The Belgian authors conclude that plant-based straws are not necessarily biodegradable and potentially add to human and environmental PFAS exposure.

Every kind of straw, compared

Straw	What the evidence says	Catches
Stainless steel	No PFAS detected in any of 5 brands in the Belgian study; its lead researcher advised using steel straws “or just avoid using straws at all”	Hard and rigid; conducts heat. Needs a brush to clean. Our steel guide covers grades and nickel
Glass	PFAS in 2 of 5 brands, per the Belgian press release	Can break; rigid
Paper	PFAS in almost every brand tested in both studies	Goes soft; single-use
Bamboo (cut cane)	PFAS in 4 of 5 brands (Belgian press release), and in plant-based straws generally in the US study	Hard to clean inside; check it’s real cane, not bamboo-fibre plastic composite (see our melamine guide)
Silicone	Not tested in either PFAS study	Flexible and soft, which some people need. It’s a synthetic polymer; see our silicone guide
Pasta, rice and other edible straws	We found no published PFAS or migration testing	Made from food, so allergens apply (wheat pasta contains gluten). Single-use, and soften in drinks
PLA “compostable” plastic	Not tested in either study	It’s plastic. In one lab study, commercial PLA straws lost almost 60% of their bending strength when wet. See our bioplastics guide
Ordinary plastic (usually polypropylene)	PFAS: none in the US study, 3 of 4 brands in Belgium	Single-use plastic, lightweight litter

Under our product standard, plastic or silicone touching your mouth means a product can’t be called plastic-free. That’s a rule for what we’d list, not a judgement on anyone who needs a flexible straw.

Why some disabled people need bendy plastic straws

This is the part the 2018 straw campaign got wrong, and disabled people said so at the time.

For many people, a straw is how they drink. When England consulted on its ban, Muscular Dystrophy UK reported that 43% of the disabled people it surveyed used straws all the time, and 34% some of the time. Responses listed conditions where straws help, including tremors and poor dexterity, dementia, cerebral palsy, stroke, dysphagia (trouble swallowing), spinal injuries and paralysis. The Spinal Injuries Association warned that cutting off access would be “a backwards step in terms of independence”.

Why plastic, specifically? A year after the ban, the UK government asked disability charities. Members said paper straws “disintegrate quickly in drinks and are not durable or flexible enough”. Some used reusable straws made of metal, bamboo, glass and other materials, but many still needed single-use plastic, because “their flexibility and lack of heat retention means they are often the safest and most accessible option”. A rigid steel or glass straw is a real hazard if your hand or head moves unpredictably, and steel gets hot in a hot drink.

Academics in disability studies have made the wider point: bans were adopted fast, with disabled people “systematically left out of the conversation”. Disability writer Alice Wong called the plastic straw “an access tool for many people”.

Good bans build this in:

• England (since October 2020): bars, cafés and restaurants can give a plastic straw to anyone who asks, as long as they’re kept out of sight. Pharmacies can sell them in store on request and online. Care homes, schools, nurseries, prisons and medical use are exempt. Disability groups had raised privacy and “gatekeeping” worries, and the government chose broad exemptions, so nobody has to prove a disability. The one-year review found some evidence the exemptions were working, though some people didn’t know they could buy straws from pharmacies. It drew on only five charities, and says itself that it’s too early for firm conclusions. The full five-year review (September 2025) recommended keeping the rules as they are, and said the exemptions “may be partially fulfilling their intended purpose”. As of November 2026, the rules stand.
• The EU has banned single-use plastic straws since July 2021 (still the case as of November 2026), but exempts those covered by medical-device law.

There is a real evidence gap here: we found no clinical study comparing straw materials for people with swallowing or movement difficulties. What exists is surveys and consultations. They all point the same way.

How much straw bans really achieved

Straws are a common litter item and a tiny share of plastic overall.

On beaches, they show up a lot by count. In the 2018 International Coastal Cleanup, volunteers recorded nearly 3.7 million straws and stirrers out of more than 97 million items, third behind cigarette butts and food wrappers. That’s about 4% of items by count (our arithmetic). We found no figure by weight, but straws are among the lightest things on the list.

In England, the government estimated its ban would cut plastic straw use from 4.7 billion a year to about 44 million. That was a forecast, not a measurement: the government’s own 2025 review says there is a significant data gap on what the bans achieved. Even so, it’s a big cut in a small item. The biggest single share of the Great Pacific garbage patch is fishing gear.

None of that makes straw bans pointless. Straws are easy to cut, often unwanted and prone to escaping. But they were sold as a big win, and they took up space that policies on packaging, production and fishing gear needed. A straw ban with medical exemptions is a reasonable small rule. A straw ban as the headline of a plastics strategy is a distraction.

As of November 2026, the pendulum has swung in the US. A February 2025 executive order set a federal policy “to end the use of paper straws”, told agencies to stop buying them, and ordered a national strategy to roll back policies that disfavour plastic straws. The order says paper straws “use chemicals that may carry risks to human health”. The White House published that strategy on 28 March 2025; it says agencies have “begun implementing policies” so that consumers are “not forced to use paper straws”. The PFAS findings above are real, but they’re no argument for plastic, whose problems this site documents at length. The answer to a bad replacement is a better one, or no straw at all.

What to do about straws

Ranked by evidence:

1. Skip the straw if you don’t need one (strong evidence). No straw, no PFAS, no plastic. In some places, like Washington State since 2022, restaurants may hand out straws only when you ask for one (our takeout guide has details).
2. If you like a straw, carry a reusable steel or glass one (good evidence). Steel had no detectable PFAS in the one study that tested it; glass had some in 2 of 5 brands. Clean it with a brush.
3. Don’t swap plastic for paper and call it done (moderate evidence). Paper and bamboo straws usually carried some PFAS in both studies, at low levels. Researchers judge the health risk from occasional use to be limited, but it isn’t the green upgrade it’s sold as.
4. If you need a flexible plastic straw, use one (strong evidence that people need them). You don’t owe anyone an explanation. In England, ask at the bar or buy from a pharmacy. If you run a café, keep a few on hand and don’t ask why.
5. Push for the bigger stuff (strong evidence that’s where the plastic is). Packaging rules, deposit-return schemes and fishing-gear rules move far more plastic than straws. See our policy tracker.