Have your say on disposable packaging

18th September 2017

The Environmental Audit Committee is relaunching the inquiry into disposable coffee cups and plastic bottles.

The inquiry will look at what actions are being undertaken by industry and Government to reduce waste generated by coffee cups and plastic bottles, and investigate possible solutions.

The Committee welcomes submissions on the following points. Respondents are asked to focus their responses on one or both of the types of waste the Committee is examining:

Impact

• What is the environmental impact of waste from coffee cups and plastic bottles? Are the rates of use, collection levels and recycling levels of these products increasing or decreasing over time?
• What are the challenges of recycling these products? What obstacles have prevented greater progress in increasing recycling rates? 

Progress

• Are consumers aware of the complexities of recycling these products? How could we increase awareness amongst the public and what impact would this have?
• What actions are being untaken by industry to reduce waste generated by coffee cups and plastic bottles? How effective have these initiatives been? How could the Government better support these initiatives?
• How effective, to date, have Government and local government led initiatives (such as #1MoreShot) been at reducing waste and increasing the recycling of coffee cups and plastic bottles? What progress has been made to develop a viable, recyclable alternative to the polyethylene coated paper cup? What are the pros and cons of the use of such cups?
• What is the likely impact of leaving the EU on UK efforts to reduce coffee cup and plastic bottle waste? 

Solutions

• What initiatives could be utilised to reduce coffee cup and plastic bottle waste or to lessen the impact of this waste? In particular what are the opportunities and risks associated with:
• — Incentives to encourage the use of re-usable alternatives for these products.
• — Charge, taxes, deposits or levies on the use of these products.
• How can we encourage households, businesses, food and drink outlets, and offices to change behaviours or introduce policies to reduce their coffee cup and plastic bottle waste?
• How are other countries working to reduce coffee cup and plastic bottle waste? What examples of best practice are there that the UK could learn from? 

Send a written submission here. The deadline is 29th September 2017.