diff --git a/src/uu/env/src/split_iterator.rs b/src/uu/env/src/split_iterator.rs
index 9b949363cb1..ab7c2c4e1a7 100644
--- a/src/uu/env/src/split_iterator.rs
+++ b/src/uu/env/src/split_iterator.rs
@@ -18,9 +18,11 @@
 
 #![forbid(unsafe_code)]
 
+use std::borrow::Cow;
 use std::ffi::OsStr;
 use std::ffi::OsString;
 
+use crate::native_int_str::from_native_int_representation;
 use crate::native_int_str::from_native_int_representation_owned;
 use crate::native_int_str::to_native_int_representation;
 use crate::native_int_str::NativeCharInt;
@@ -103,14 +105,15 @@ impl<'a> SplitIterator<'a> {
 
         let (name, default) = var_parse.parse_variable()?;
 
-        let value = std::env::var_os(name);
+        let varname_os_str_cow = from_native_int_representation(Cow::Borrowed(name));
+        let value = std::env::var_os(varname_os_str_cow);
         match (&value, default) {
             (None, None) => {} // do nothing, just replace it with ""
             (Some(value), _) => {
                 self.expander.put_string(value);
             }
             (None, Some(default)) => {
-                self.expander.put_string(default);
+                self.expander.put_native_string(default);
             }
         };
 
diff --git a/src/uu/env/src/string_expander.rs b/src/uu/env/src/string_expander.rs
index ae56727c3ce..06e4699269f 100644
--- a/src/uu/env/src/string_expander.rs
+++ b/src/uu/env/src/string_expander.rs
@@ -82,6 +82,10 @@ impl<'a> StringExpander<'a> {
         self.output.extend(native.deref());
     }
 
+    pub fn put_native_string(&mut self, n_str: &NativeIntStr) {
+        self.output.extend(n_str);
+    }
+
     pub fn take_collected_output(&mut self) -> Vec<NativeCharInt> {
         mem::take(&mut self.output)
     }
diff --git a/src/uu/env/src/variable_parser.rs b/src/uu/env/src/variable_parser.rs
index 5ed7a7039d5..e9abf6ef05d 100644
--- a/src/uu/env/src/variable_parser.rs
+++ b/src/uu/env/src/variable_parser.rs
@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@
 // For the full copyright and license information, please view the LICENSE
 // file that was distributed with this source code.
 
-use std::{borrow::Cow, ffi::OsStr, ops::Range};
+use std::ops::Range;
 
 use crate::{
-    native_int_str::from_native_int_representation, parse_error::ParseError,
+    native_int_str::NativeIntStr, parse_error::ParseError,
     string_parser::StringParser,
 };
 
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ impl<'a, 'b> VariableParser<'a, 'b> {
 
     fn parse_braced_variable_name(
         &mut self,
-    ) -> Result<(Cow<'a, OsStr>, Option<Cow<'a, OsStr>>), ParseError> {
+    ) -> Result<(&'a NativeIntStr, Option<&'a NativeIntStr>), ParseError> {
         let pos_start = self.parser.get_peek_position();
 
         self.check_variable_name_start()?;
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ impl<'a, 'b> VariableParser<'a, 'b> {
             };
         }
 
-        let default = if let Some(default_end) = default_end {
+        let default_opt = if let Some(default_end) = default_end {
             Some(self.parser.substring(&Range {
                 start: varname_end + 1,
                 end: default_end,
@@ -102,13 +102,10 @@ impl<'a, 'b> VariableParser<'a, 'b> {
             end: varname_end,
         });
 
-        let varname_cow = from_native_int_representation(Cow::Borrowed(varname));
-        let default_opt_cow = default.map(|x| from_native_int_representation(Cow::Borrowed(x)));
-
-        Ok((varname_cow, default_opt_cow))
+        Ok((varname, default_opt))
     }
 
-    fn parse_unbraced_variable_name(&mut self) -> Result<Cow<'a, OsStr>, ParseError> {
+    fn parse_unbraced_variable_name(&mut self) -> Result<&'a NativeIntStr, ParseError> {
         let pos_start = self.parser.get_peek_position();
 
         self.check_variable_name_start()?;
@@ -136,14 +133,13 @@ impl<'a, 'b> VariableParser<'a, 'b> {
             start: pos_start,
             end: pos_end,
         });
-        let varname_cow = Cow::Borrowed(varname);
 
-        Ok(from_native_int_representation(varname_cow))
+        Ok(varname)
     }
 
     pub fn parse_variable(
         &mut self,
-    ) -> Result<(Cow<'a, OsStr>, Option<Cow<'a, OsStr>>), ParseError> {
+    ) -> Result<(&'a NativeIntStr, Option<&'a NativeIntStr>), ParseError> {
         self.skip_one()?;
 
         let (name, default) = match self.get_current_char() {