A report by the Environmental Audit Committee has called for the introduction of a 25p levy after research found that 2.5bn coffee cups are used and thrown away each year in the UK but less than 1 in 400 (25%) are recycled.

The report states: ‘We recommend that the government introduces a minimum 25p levy on disposable cups, to be paid by the consumer on top of the price of the coffee. Coffee shops already reduce the price of their drinks to reflect the discount that they are already happy to offer their customers and consequently they could absorb some of the “latte levy”.’

Although coffee shops such as Costa, Starbucks, Pret A Manger, Café Nero and Paul offer customers a 25p discount for using a recyclable cup, only 1% of customers take advantage of this discount. The report says this is because ‘consumers are more responsive to a charge than a discount and that a charge on disposable cups could reduce use by up to 30%’.

A similar 5p levy was introduced on plastic bags on 5 October 2015. This charge reduced plastic bag use by over 83% in the first year.

The report has also called for government to set a target that all single use coffee cups should be recycled by 2023. The report states: ‘If an effective recycling system is not established and achieves high levels of recycling by this date, the Government should ban disposable coffee cups.

‘There is no excuse for the ongoing reluctance from government and industry to address coffee cup waste. Disposable coffee cups are an avoidable waste problem and if the UK cannot be confident of their future sustainability, the government should ban them.’

The Committee has suggested that the revenue generated from the levy should be collected and managed by a central body and used to fund recycling infrastructure for the remaining cups in use. As the recycling rate for coffee cups improves, the levy could be lowered year on year.

The proposed levy is being opposed by some in the industry. Chris Stemman, executive director of the British Coffee Association, said: ‘We recognise the success of the 5p plastic bag charge in relation to the challenge associated with managing plastic bags.

‘However, the use of paper cups and plastic bags are inherently different and simply introducing a 5p tax on cups will not necessarily address the behaviour change required to reduce waste and littering or provide the infrastructure required to sustainably recover and enable the recycling of paper cups.’

The Paper Cup Recovery and Recycling Group’s chairman, Neil Whittall, said: ‘The PCRRG was disappointed to see that the EAC had suggested a consumer tax as part of its recommendations in its report on paper cups.’The industry has collectively embraced the challenges put to it since attention was drawn to concerns over cup waste and PCRRG members are working across the whole supply chain, implementing activity designed to meet its objective of ensuring consumers are able to recycle their cups in a sustainable manner by 2020.’

In Septmeber 2017, Selfridges announced that they had formed a partnership with cup recycling plant James Cropper to convert disposable coffee cups into its yellow shopping bags. Each bag contains 20% cup fibre, with one large bag containing the equivalent of one disposable cup. These bags can then be recycled like normal paper bags.

Currently, coffee cups are made from paper and lined with plastic. It is this plastic lining that is unable to be removed by most recycling facilities, therefore making single use coffee cups unrecyclable.

Environmental Audit Committee - Disposable Packaging: Coffee Cups report is here. 

Report by Amy Austin