Lib Dems led the way with hugely successful plastic bag charge, leading to a reduction of over 85% in plastic bags, and followed last year with policy to introduce a small charge on disposable coffee cups.
The plans were rejected by government last year, but there appears to have been a U-turn.
Yesterday, Environment Minister Therese Coffey told the environmental audit committee that the government will consider introducing a coffee cup charge to tackle the 2.5 billion disposable cups thrown away each year.
Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson Tim Farron commented
It is good to see the government is now giving into growing pressure, after having rejected our proposal for a coffee cup charge last year.
Ministers must stop burying their their heads in the sand and address the scandal of unnecessary litter polluting our streets, rivers and countryside.
As we know from the 5p charge on plastic bags pushed for the Liberal Democrats, a small change can make a huge difference in protecting our environment.
The public have embraced the plastic bag charge and know it is making a difference, this is the next logical step.
I agree. We throw away around 7 million cups every day, and fewer than 1 in 400 are recycled. Making lifestyle changes are never easy, but we have shown it is possible with the 5p bag charge. Let’s keep the pressure up for reducing disposable cup use and finding other ways to grab a quick cup of coffee.
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2 Comments
Well done, Kirsten, agree !!
Liberalism , social and classical, modern or age old, is about responsibility, individual and general.
The harm principle means this is a good policy on both fronts.
Latte liberals , the Americans , with humour, refer to , in the States, to describe progressives , now.
Time for the self same to lead the way wherever they are in the world , starting in the uk.
Everyone has agreed a 5p charge will not make any difference, several studies have been done that have been published that back this up, until charge gets to 30p. we also need to be mindful, what would this tax on cups cover paper coffee cups, polystyrene coffee cups, plastic vending cups, paper cold drink cups, milkshake cups etc, you could incentivise people to start using polystyrene cups again, that go onto pollute watercourses and eventually the sea. Yes, I am biased having been in the paper cup industry for over 30 years but still want to see a reduction of waste going to landfill, this can be achieved with a coordinated recycling scheme across the country, so packing manufacturers can put clear instructions on the packaging as how best to dispose of it, but with recycling schemes changing from town to town it is impossible, MP’s need to wake up and smell the waste, and stop getting distracted by minute items like paper cups that represent less than 0.1% of landfill, lets get recycling working properly.