UK lawmakers call for 'latte levy' on coffee cups
January 5, 2018
British lawmakers on Friday called on the government to impose a 25-pence ($0.35, €0.28) "latte levy" on disposable coffee cups and for all such containers to be recycled by 2023.
Less than 1 percent of coffee cups make it through the recycling process because of the plastic waterproof layer inside the cup, which is difficult to detach from the outer paper layer.
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The committee's recommendations also include making producers pay more for packaging that is difficult to recycle and improving labeling to educate customers about how to best dispose of their cup.
The UK alone throws away 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups each year. Instead of being recycled, almost all the cups are incinerated, exported or put into landfill.
Environmental Audit Committee chair Mary Creagh said in a statement that the UK throws away enough coffee cups to circle the planet five and a half times.
"Almost none are recycled and half a million a day are littered," Creagh said. "Coffee cup producers and distributors have not taken action to rectify this and government has sat on its hands."
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The EAC is responsible for considering how the policies and programs of Britain's government departments and nondepartmental public bodies contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development.
Why are coffee cups hard to recycle?
Most people throw their empty coffee cups into recycling bins thinking they will be recycled, but this is almost always not the case.
There are only three recycling facilities in the UK that can split the waterproof plastic layer from the paper components of coffee cups for recycling.
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In addition to this, there are also complications associated with recycling packaging contaminated by food or drink.
The plastic liner in the coffee cups makes them expensive to recycle, but the businesses that supply and produce them do not bear the full environmental costs of their disposal.
'Taxpayers footing the bill'
Packaging producers only pay for 10 percent of the cost of packaging disposal and recycling, with taxpayers left to pay the remaining 90 percent, the EAC's statement said.
"Taxpayers are footing the bill for disposing of the billions of coffee cups thrown away each year, whether or not they are coffee drinkers," Creagh said.
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The EAC has called on the government to adopt a fee structure that rewards design for recyclability and raises charges on packaging that is difficult to recycle.
The EAC also noted that some coffee shops provide discounts for customers who bring their own cup, but uptake of these offers is low at only 1-2 percent of coffee purchases, and consumers are more responsive to a charge than a discount.