Latte levy proposal sees consumers move to travel mugs
A high street retailer observed an increase in eco-friendly and reusable coffee cup sales before the announcement of the report.
According to the COO of Robert Dyas, the homewares high-street retailer, Rachael Brain, “We have seen a 50% sales uplift of reusable travel mugs year on year. This includes sales of eco-friendly, biodegradable reusable bamboo travel mugs and collapsible travel mugs. Our data shows that the public started switching to reusable travel mugs six months ago, long before the “Latte Levy” report. This reflects favourably on the great British public who clearly want to do their bit to avoid unwanted waste.”
The House of Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee recently announced the findings of its report into disposable coffee cups, urging the Government to introduce the “Latte Levy” which would see a 25p charge per disposable cup of coffee purchased in the UK. The figures released show that at least 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups are used each year in the UK and only 1 in 400 of these are recycled.
The Environmental Audit Committee believes that a charge of 25p could reduce use by up to 30%.*
