The humble drinking straw appears to have become a political lightning rod and the controversy has extended to Walt Disney World. It almost seems like you can tell someone’s political affiliation by their straw preference, it’s the new “paper or plastic?” for this generation. In July 2018, Walt Disney World announced a major environmental initiative to eliminate single-use plastic straws in all their global parks and resorts by mid-2019. In 2023 Disney went one step further in no longer making any straws readily available at quick service locations and only providing paper straws upon request. However, Florida lawmakers are now trying to ban paper straws in the state starting in 2027 due to concerns over PFAS (forever chemicals) often found in paper straws. Scientists however point to similar PFAS chemical concerns with plastic straws as well the consumption of microplastics. It seems like the answer going forward may just be no straws.

There are some places where the answer going forward will probably be no straws of any kind (should this legislation pass) such as Animal Kingdom. In the Disney rules, plastic straws are not permitted at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park, water parks or Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge (Kidani Village and Jambo House) even if you bring them yourself. This is due to animal safety and to minimize maintenance issues at the water parks. Paper straws have their detractor based mainly on performance as many can become soggy and cease to function over the course of use. There are some “compostable” straw options as well, but they also have detractors due to requiring precise commercial composting to properly decompose. The likely model will probably be something like Starbucks who has largely replaced single-use plastic straws with recyclable, strawless lids for iced beverages. Hopefully in the end science will prevail and the best decisions for human health, animal health, attraction health and the environment will prevail.