Paper straws have been promoted as a more environmentally friendly replacement for plastic, but a South Korean assessment suggests the alternative may create a greater pollution related health burden across its life cycle. The findings focus on pollution associated with manufacturing and disposal.

South Korea’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment commissioned the assessment from the Korean Society for Life Cycle Assessment, according to news reports. Researchers compared the potential effects of several disposable straw materials on human health and the environment.

The analysis followed the products from production through disposal. It compared four types of straws: paper, conventional plastic, biodegradable plastic and bio based polyethylene, also identified as bio-PE.

Researchers examined 16 categories of environmental impact. Their calculations assumed that about 74% of discarded straws were incinerated and 26% were sent to landfills, based on waste statistics from South Korea.

Paper straws scored 6.33 times as high as conventional plastic straws on an estimate of cancer related harm from pollution generated during production and disposal, South Korean reports said. That measure did not examine cancer risk from drinking through a straw.

Instead, the score estimated potential harm associated with pollution generated across the product’s life cycle. Researchers emphasized that it did not measure chemical exposure caused by putting a paper straw into a beverage.

The assessment also did not test whether chemicals could leach from any of the straw materials into drinks. It did not track health outcomes among people who regularly used paper, conventional plastic, biodegradable plastic or bio-PE straws.

Conventional plastic straws performed best in 10 of the 16 environmental categories examined by the researchers. However, no single type of straw delivered the strongest result in every category included in the analysis.

The paper straw result therefore represents one modeled measure involving cancer causing effects linked to pollution. The findings do not establish that using a paper straw raises an individual consumer’s risk of developing cancer.

The assessment has renewed criticism of restrictions on conventional plastic straws. Lawmaker Kim Wi-sang, whose office received the report, criticized those restrictions and argued that alternative products had not delivered the environmental benefits they promised.

President Donald Trump has also criticized paper straws, describing them as ineffective and arguing that they could pose health risks. In February 2025, he signed an executive order addressing their use by federal agencies.

The order directed federal agencies to stop purchasing and providing paper straws, according to a White House press release. It also instructed agencies to develop a national strategy intended to end their use.

Trump previously expressed his frustration with the products in personal terms. “I was tired of having straws melt in my mouth,” Trump said.

Separate research has raised different concerns about materials used in disposable straws. Fox News Digital previously reported on concerns cited by Florida lawmakers involving a 2023 University of Antwerp study of PFAS in straw brands.

That study detected PFAS in 27 of the 39 brands tested, with the chemicals found most often in paper straws. PFAS are also commonly described as forever chemicals, although the South Korean assessment did not measure chemical leakage into beverages.

Separately, 360° Foodservice, a European food service packaging association, previously said its member companies use a no PFAS clause. The association also said those companies set requirements covering the safety of materials that come into contact with food.

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