A Wisconsin entrepreneur commits to making paper straws
For nearly two decades, Cloveridge Converting in northeast Wisconsin primarily turned paper rolls into towels and wipes for dairy farmers. Recently, owner Jeff Jaco decided to acquire a paper straws operation from North Carolina.
The decision came from the heart — inspired by his daughter, Haley Spargur. She’s a 24-year-old recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay with a master’s degree in environmental science and policy.
Spargur has been a quiet force in shaping her father’s environmental consciousness. At home, she voiced her concerns on everything from removing invasive plants in the backyard to plastic recycling, and most of the time, Jaco listened with pride.
“I see papers as pretty minimal in Haley’s world. But she knows we do everything environmentally friendly, or I get trouble,” he said with a laugh.
He acquired machinery, including equipment to cut, compress, and seal paper into straws, in February and soon found that his new product line was disfavored by the Trump administration.
In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to cease purchasing paper straws and to ensure they’re no longer provided in federal buildings. The executive order criticizes paper straws, calling them nonfunctional and more expensive to produce than plastic straws, and claiming they use chemicals that carry health risks.
Jaco is one of many U.S. paper manufacturers who were surprised by the administration’s swipe at their products and criticized the president for favoring plastic over paper. Ironically, he, like many other business owners, is a longtime supporter of the president.
“It was more or less a straight-up insult to anybody who is environmental, like Haley,” he said. “It’s one of those typical moves of Donald Trump where you shouldn’t be saying it, because you’re not taking the whole picture.”
In protest, he mailed four cases of his paper straws to the kitchen at Mar-a-Lago, hoping to prove they’re durable, functional, and a far cry from soggy paper straws consumers often complain about.
Paper straw business had challenges
As both an investor and business owner, Jaco has long observed Donald Trump and Warren Buffett from afar, studying their business strategies and decisions since the 1980s.
In fall 2023, he learned the owner of Oracle Ocean Straws was looking to sell, due to a cancer diagnosis. The following year, after a road trip to North Carolina to size up the operation, he decided to buy the straw company for an estimated $250,000.
He said he understood the drawbacks of the product line, from costs to functionality to health risks posed by PFAS in paper straws. But he said his products are FDA-regulated and PFAS-free.
Still, he prefers paper over plastic, even though the former is not 100% perfect.
“You never, ever get 100% positivity out of anything — it’s impossible,” he said. “But again, what is the lesser of two evils? What has less of an impact? Neither one may be good for a human, but which one has worse side effects?”
“Because either way, you’re going to be ingesting something, either way, something is going to enter the environment,” he added. “So, what are our choices to eliminate as much (harm) as we can?”
Industry voiced concerns about the executive order
Jaco is not alone. Paper industry voices echoed similar concerns, warning that the executive order sends the wrong message about sustainable alternatives like paper straws.
Trade associations argue against top-down policy interventions like the mandate and urge policymakers to avoid policies that could limit consumer choice.
“We believe that consumers should determine which products best meet their needs based on a variety of considerations, including performance, cost and sustainability,” said Terry Webber, who serves as the vice president of industry affairs at the American Forest & Paper Association, in a statement.
“We urge policymakers to ensure policies recognize the benefits of paper, and do not create barriers to consumers’ choice.”
Scott Suder, president of the Wisconsin Paper Council, said consumers will make their own choices.
“What we’re trying to do is to get the correct information out about our products, including paper straws,” said Suder. “That they’re responsibly sourced, fiber-based, renewable, and biodegradable.”
Paper straws come at a cost, Jaco bets customers will pay more
Jaco keeps his product lines small and his eyes on local customers, like a restaurant just down the block.
He acknowledged paper straws are expensive to produce, especially given rising tariffs and market volatility adding to his production costs. But he said that eco-friendly products inherently carry higher costs, citing electric cars as an example.
“I think most Americans would spend a half a penny or a penny more knowing that it’s going to be environmentally good,” he said.
Long before the federal policy rollback, many states and cities maintained or strengthened their own bans on a range of single-use plastic items, including plastic straws. States like California, New Jersey, Vermont, Oregon, and Maine require businesses to offer single-use plastic straws only upon request.
Wisconsin has no statewide restrictions on single-use plastic straws, but in 2020, Madison, Milwaukee and Wauwatosa implemented local regulations to reduce their use in food and beverage establishments with various exceptions and encourage alternatives like paper straws.
Restaurants appear less optimistic about paper straws.
Susan Quam, vice president of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, said the use of paper straws hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels when restaurants were already moving away from plastic products.
Quam said in Wisconsin, especially in mandated areas, the return of paper straws must be “consumer driven,” and restaurant operators are focusing on survival, balancing customer demand with financial realities.
He gears up in manufacturing paper straws in Northeast Wisconsin, rooted in family ties and environmental values
Inside the De Pere facility, the machinery arrived from North Carolina in late April.
Jaco, 56, standing among packed pallets of equipment, said the product line would run with an estimated production capacity of 60,000 straws per hour.
Pointing to a paper-cutting machine, he said that his straws are made from three layers, hold their shape, and won’t disintegrate in your mouth.
“I’ll put it in a cup of water, and I’ll come back tomorrow. It’s still the same shape and form,” he said.
He said these are American-made paper straws and are made with a higher-grade paper base. And he aimed to expand the product line to additional paper-based products in the near future.
“The goal is to eliminate plastics from entering the environment, even if it’s only one product,” he said. “And hopefully it’ll be two products, and then it’ll be three products.”
He sees this as a meaningful long-term investment for his children and grandchildren, and one that may carry some risk of financial loss.
“Paper straws are not going to change the environment, or the world view. It’s not going to clean the oceans, but it’s going to stop the destruction, and so even the slightest pause on one single item is worth it all day long,” he said.
Source: A Wisconsin entrepreneur commits to making paper straws
