Plastic-free pints

SIR – The world gets through

500 billion plastic cups each year. In Britain plastic pint cups are one of the worst offenders. Rarely recycled and totally valueless, they remain strewn across the landscape after big nights out, music festivals and sporting events.

From British festivals, it is estimated that almost 70 per cent of plastic pint cups will end up in landfill or, most likely, the environment, where they will languish for centuries. Plastic cups are the sixth most commonly found plastic item in Britain’s rivers, and the eighth on the nation’s beaches.

Plastic pint cups also taint the experience of buying a round. Britons are routinely charged £7 for a pint of beer, yet are forced to drink it out of a cup that often ruins the taste.

These cups are a relic of a bygone age. That’s why we’re calling on the Government to ban them without delay. Innovation will only happen if we take away the cheap plastic option, and many safe alternatives are already available. This legislation would be no impediment to business and would benefit our environment and our social experiences hugely. It’s high time Britain poured itself a plastic-free pint.

Sian Sutherland

Co-founder, A Plastic Planet

Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)

Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee

Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Lib Dem)

All-party Parliamentary Group on Beer

Alex Lewis

Venue Director, Kia Oval and 15 others; see telegraph.co.uk