What do you mean it was widely overstated? It is held by the mainstream news as the driver of paper straw adoption. It is not like people gave up on plastics in general over concern for the environment, it was only straws specifically.
I think you misread my comment. The worry that turtles were having widespread injuries due to plastic straws was overstated. It started with a viral video. There's no evidence that was anything other than a freak accident.
That's not to say plastics are good, or that marine life aren't affected by them. Clearly they are. Straws are a small factor in that, and I was simply stating that a cellulose based straw that degrades in the ocean is not going to impact turtles, certainly not more than the few rare instances plastic straws harmed them.
Then you misunderstand the situation. People didn't start flocking to paper straws because they actually pose a widespread threat to turtles. It was only done so under feeling good about the idea of helping turtles avoid the hypothetical fate shown in said video. In order to achieve that goal in maintaining the idea of helping turtles, it is necessary for the straws to have poor structural integrity.
Granted, I expect the novelty has already started to wear off. There seems to be growing movement towards returning to plastic straws. And fair enough. You can only worry about turtles for so long before the next viral video gives you something new to worry about. And for that reason, plastic straws may no longer need a replacement (from the irrational human emotion point of view).
Also, ideally not, because the turtles that were claimed to be affected are in the ocean, where the straws degraded in just a few months.