ROCHESTER, N.Y. — There have been a lot of changes in Washington, D.C. since the Trump administration took office. One change in particular has a Rochester small business owner scratching her head and wondering, why? Paper straws are a product that’s been in the president’s crosshairs for a while now.

A 10,000-square-foot factory in Rochester is the definition of a small business.

“Right now, we are a small, mighty group of eight,” said Karrie Laughton, co-owner of Roc Paper Straws.

Laughton opened her paper straw factory out of necessity. After watching a viral video that showed a sea turtle with a plastic straw stuck in its nose, the bar she owns decided to scrap plastic straws for paper ones. 

“I decided I didn’t know how much damage plastic was doing to the planet,” said Laughton. “So I decided to do paper.”

But good quality paper straws were hard to find, so Laughton decided to make her own paper straws. 

“How hard can it be?” she said. “It’s hard.”

Her machines were ready to go, but then the pandemic shut everything down. Since opening in 2022, it’s been a slow climb.

“Now it’s finally starting to come back around,” said Laughton. “Or at least it was.”

This week, Trump signed an executive order, calling the push for paper straws “irrational” and “ridiculous.” The Biden administration had pushed for the use of paper over plastic.

“We're going back to plastic straws,” said Trump on Monday, during a televised signing of the executive order. “These things don't work. I've had them many times, and on occasion, they break. They explode.”

“There’s been basically a war waged on paper straws,” said Laughton. “Which is crazy. To me it’s just mind-blowing that there would be an executive order against anything that helps make the world a better place.” 

Laughton says the market is flooded with low-quality paper straws made overseas. She takes Trump’s executive order personally.

“We are literally a manufacturing business in the USA,” she said.  “So why would you want to attack something you’re constantly trying to build up? It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

During his unsuccessful re-election bid in 2020, the president sold “Trump” branded plastic straws. The executive order seeks to “end the procurement and forced use of paper straws.”

Laughton points out straws and other single-use plastics are petroleum-based.

“Paper straws are not the enemy,” she said. “Single-use plastics are the enemy, and we really need to do better as a society to stop using single-use plastics.”

Roc Paper Straws counts local universities and several bars and businesses among its clients. Laughton is looking to expand the business, and is seeking investors through a crowdfunding campaign. She worries the executive order will be bad for business.

“I’m at a loss for words,” she said.

A small business — indirectly caught in a controversy she never could have imagined.

“We do have a lot of supporters out there. A lot of people who know our mission is good and we are trying to do great things,” said Laughton. “We are here to fight the good fight.”