Storms brewing for green tea plan

THE Scottish Government is today launching a scheme to encourage staff to drink a more environmentally friendly cuppa.

It will try to persuade civil servants to switch to reusable mugs.

A Scottish Government spokesman said it hoped to recoup the £3,000 cost in less than two years by cutting its present £1,700-a-year waste disposal bill for cups.

Holyrood restaurants will be selling trendy plastic Keep Cups for only £4, barely a quarter of the normal shop price of £14 for a standard 12oz cup.

Civil servants will also be able to enjoy a discount on coffee and tea if they use the new plastic cups.

Unfortunately for the SNP’s green initiative, the cups have been shipped in from Australia.

Scottish Tory environmental spokesman Jamie McGrigor said: ‘Although the idea of reusing cups

‘Ship cups in from far-flung countries’

is a good one to help the environment, the Scottish Government could have sourced these cups somewhere closer to home.

‘It doesn’t make sense to ship the cups in from far-flung countries, clocking up air miles, when the whole point of the project is to protect the environment.’

Taxpayer Scotland director Eben Wilson said: ‘The cash cost of this initiative may seem small, but just think of the cost in productive time l ost as these cups were sourced, discussed, chosen, negotiated i n price and then promoted.

‘This sort of small saving may be environmentally laudable, but it really should be organised by voluntary, out- of- hours effort rather than paid for by taxpayers.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We are committed to continually reducing the environmental impact of our work and the reusable cups have been introduced to cut the amount of waste from our staff restaurants.

‘The product was selected based on its ability to meet our specific requirements on value for money