MPs in push to extend bottle deposit scheme to coffee cups

mPs are to investigate extending the idea of a deposit and refund scheme for plastic bottles to throwaway coffee cups.

The Commons environmental audit committee has announced an inquiry that will look at the waste and litter produced by the bottles and cups.

It comes after the scottish government said it will introduce a deposit and refund scheme for plastic bottles.

This would boost the number collected for recycling at the same time as tackling littering and the pollution of rivers and seas.

Environment secretary michael Gove has suggested that Westminster could follow suit with the ‘great idea’.

mPs from all parties on the Commons committee will look at whether to include coffee cups in the scheme.

The daily mail’s Curb The Cups campaign has highlighted how most disposable cups from high street cafes cannot be recycled with other waste paper because they have a thin plastic coating inside.

That means that only around one in 400 of the estimated 2.5billion cups issued each year by the major chains such as starbucks are being recycled. The rest are dumped or burned.

mPs will look at a number of methods to minimise the problem. These include including a deposit and refund scheme on the cups to ensure they are collected by shops and sent to specialist recycling plants, where the plastic coating can be removed.

The Irish parliament is currently considering going further and imposing an outright ban on the use of such cups.

The coffee shop chains are under pressure to switch to cups that do not include a plastic coating.

If they do make this switch, their cups would not carry a deposit charge. The committee first announced an inquiry into the issue of bottles and cups earlier this year, but this was killed off after the Government announced the general election in april. The committee, whose chairman is labour mP mary Creagh, has now decided to relaunch its investigation. In a statement announcing the move, it said: ‘The uK throws away approximately 2.5billion coffee cups every year, of which less than one in 400 are recycled.

‘In order to make coffee cups waterproof, the card shell is fused with polyethylene, a material that cannot be separated out again in standard uK recycling mills.

‘This coating makes both composting and recycling of paper cups uncommon as there are only two sites in the uK that have the capacity to separate the plastic film from the paper and allow it to be recovered and recycled into new paper products.’ under the heading solutions, the committee said it will look at ‘what initiatives could be introduced to reduce coffee cup and plastic bottle waste or to lessen the impact of this waste.’

specifically, it said this will involve examining ‘charges, taxes, deposits or levies on the use of these products’.

Greenpeace spokesman louisa Casson said: ‘It’s great news the committee is taking the threat of plastic pollution so seriously.

‘ Introducing deposit return schemes couldn’t be more of an open goal for governments.

‘such schemes are a great way of reducing the plastic waste ending up on our streets, beaches and in the sea.’