Disposable Cups Ban

Baroness Neville-Rolfe Excerpts

Monday 21st May 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

The noble Baroness is completely right that it is for businesses to join in the fight against the scourge of single-use disposable cups. However, an enormous amount of work is being done, with companies and retailers working together to reduce the number of cups used by deploying both the carrot and the stick approach, with either a charge or a discount. We welcome that. On the research mentioned by the noble Baroness, I do not know whether any has been done but I shall certainly write to her if any has.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

My Lords, the problem is that disposable cups are not recyclable. Do the Government accept that we must move away from a situation where we are building up waste right across the environment, from woodlands to beaches to waste dumps, to one where all disposable cups are recyclable—and marked as such—so that people can dispose of them and reuse them, as is already the case with drinks in cans?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

My noble friend is quite right. It is the moisture barrier between the cardboard and the inside of the cup that is the problem. However, I understand that a large amount of research has been going on in this area and that products are coming on stream which will be recyclable. I should also say that on capacity, the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment is looking at increasing the capacity for recycling, and indeed a company called DS Smith in Kent has the capacity to recycle nearly all the cups that are currently being used.