‘Latte levy’ bid on disposable cups
Latte levy and the environment
ENVIRONMENT: Consumers should be charged a 25p “latte levy” on disposable coffee cups with the revenue used to pay for improved recycling facilities, MPs have urged.
All disposable coffee cups should be recycled by 2023 and they should be banned if the target is not met, says the Environmental Audit Committee.
CONSUMERS SHOULD be charged a 25p “latte levy” on disposable coffee cups with the revenue used to pay for improved recycling facilities, MPs have urged.
All disposable coffee cups should be recycled by 2023 and they should be banned if the target is not met, the Environmental Audit Committee said.
The committee is calling on the Government to introduce a 25p charge on disposable cups on top of the price of a coffee, with the money raised used to improve the UK’s reprocessing facilities and “binfrastructure” to ensure cups and other food and drink packaging is recycled.
Some shops give money off the price of a hot drink for customers who use reusable cups, such as Pret A Manger, which has just doubled its discount to 50p.
But the committee said uptake of these offers was low at only one per cent to two per cent of coffee purchases, and consumers were more responsive to a charge than a discount based on the success of the 5p single-use plastic bag levy.
The UK throws away 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups every year.
Almost all of them are incinerated, exported or sent to landfill because their plastic lining makes them costly to recycle.
The committee heard that less than one per cent of coffee cups is recycled because there are only three facilities in the UK that can split the paper and plastic components.
But most people dispose of their coffee cups in recycling bins believing they will be recycled.
The committee said cups from cafes that do not have in-store recycling systems should be printed with “not widely recycled” labels to boost consumer awareness, while cafes that do have recycling systems should label their cups as “recyclable in store only”.
It is also calling on the Government to set fees for producers who make packaging that is difficult to recycle.
Committee chairwoman and Wakefield MP Mary Creagh said: “The UK throws away 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups every year, enough to circle the planet five and a half times.
“Almost none are recycled and half a million a day are littered.
“Coffee cup producers and distributors have not taken action to rectify this and government has sat on its hands. The UK’s coffee shop market is expanding rapidly, so we need to kick-start a revolution in recycling.”
She added: “Coffee shops have been pulling the wool over customers’ eyes, telling us their cups can be recycled when less than one per cent are. Taxpayers are footing the bill for disposing of the billions of coffee cups thrown away each year, whether or not they are coffee drinkers.”
Laura Foster, head of clean seas at the Marine Conservation Society, said: “Just like the plastic bag charge we are all now familiar with, a charge added to our coffee at the point of purchase will help consumers think about whether to take a refill cup to the cafe. We totally agree with the committee that if 100 per cent recycling of coffee cups isn’t reached by 2023, then there should be an outright ban on providing them.”
The Yorkshire Post spoke to shoppers in Leeds about the proposal. One resident, Mollie Allison, 71, said: “I think it’s ridiculous that you have to have a plastic cup anyway, you should have a proper cup that they can wash up. I might be prepared to pay an extra 10p for a proper cup.”
But Penny Timmond, 61, from Las Vegas, said: “Considering how much Starbucks charges for a cup of coffee, another 25p probably isn’t going to make a big deal, since if you can afford it to begin with, then you can afford another 25p.”
Coffee shops have been pulling the wool over customers’ eyes. Wakefield MP Mary Creagh.
A PROPOSED ‘latte levy’ won’t be everyone’s cup of tea now that there’s a coffee shop on so many streets. Yet if the 25p tax, advocated today by Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee headed by Wakefield MP Mary Creagh, changes behaviour, encourages recycling and reduces the amount of discarded plastic, it’s a small price to pay – the UK throws away 2.5 billion disposal coffee cups every year.
What’s wrong with regular coffee shop users taking their own cup if it avoids the charge? The late Tony Benn, so long the country’s most famous teadrinker, invariably carried the same mug on his travels (along with teabags and a Thermos of hot water).
And sceptics should remember the impact of the 5p charge on singleuse carrier bags. Criticised at first, it has made a discernible difference, hence this latest proposal should be regarded as an opportunity to protect the environment rather than just another tax that milks consumers.