Above: Volunteers pick up trash like plastic straws around Lake Tahoe. Credit: League to Save Lake Tahoe.
This story was shared with permission from KUNR Public Radio. For an audio version of the story, please visit the KUNR website.
President Trump ended the forced use of paper straws, but reducing plastic straw use helped Lake Tahoe.
Over the past decade, 31,000 plastic straws were picked up from Lake Tahoe’s environment by volunteers.
This may seem like a lot, but plastic straw findings actually decreased dramatically in recent years because local businesses simply stopped using them.
Laura Patten, Natural Resource Director at the League to Save Lake Tahoe, said the community will probably keep using items like paper straws.
“Over the past few years, we really worked with the businesses, worked with our community, worked with the cities and counties to help them switch away from single-use plastics, and we don’t anticipate that to change.”
When plastic breaks down, microplastics can harm water quality and wildlife.
Ali Dickson is the 2025 fall intern for KUNR and the Hitchcock Project for Visualizing Science. She is a student in the master’s program at the Reynolds School of Journalism.
