Coffee on the go...

[Workingman]

There is quite rightly an issue with the difficult to recycle coffee cups used by the big chains for their customers. It is estimated that 20 million of these are used every day. In fairness to drinkers of this glop the majority of the cups end up in bins, either on the street or back at the workplace; they are not the litter problem that plastic bottles for pop or water are. On the other hand they end up as landfill because nobody seems to know what to do with them.

It is a bit late in the day but the government has now been forced to take action to reduce the numbers and so it has come up with a solution. That solution is, wait for it, that consumers will get a discount if they take their own, reusable, cups. What planet are they on? Do they honestly expect millions of coffee drinkers to carry around their own cups? And what sort of cup? Will it be a dainty bone china job or a massive stoneware builder's mug? Will the chains request cups of a certain volume? For health reasons will a customer's cup have to be washed on the premises prior to filled? Will prices go up to cover the discount? Minefield.

I have an alternative. If people are rich enough and daft enough to pay more for one cup of coffee when they could buy a bag of ground coffee and make tens of cups then hit them with a meaningful levy - £1 should cover it. It should be collected separately and handed direct to councils where it would be ring-fenced to spend only on state-of-the-art recycling facilities.

And while we are at it let's do the same for pop and water bottles and cans for drinks, including beer and lager. It is time to stop tinkering at the edges and get serious about helping to clean up the planet.

[JoM]

Some of the chains already offer a discount if you take your own reusable cup. From memory I think Costa and Starbucks knock 25p off.

And I'm sure I read that one of them (Starbucks perhaps?) was trialling adding 5p onto the price if a disposable cup was used.

[Suff]

Costa at work is offering a discount if you use their re-use able cup.

You pay for the cup and then they give you a discount.

You have to clean the cup before returning or they will refuse to serve you.

[victor]

Council here have come up with special for coffee cups only