Every year in the UK 2.5 billion coffee cups are thrown away and only 1 in 400 of these recycled. Many of these discarded cups litter our streets, lay as waste in the countryside and even end up floating in the oceans.
In coalition, the Liberal Democrats with the support of the Conservatives introduced a 5p charge on plastic bags. As a result single-use plastic bag use has fell by more than 85%, from 7 billion to around 500 million. This has had a positive impact on our natural environment and raised significant funds for charities.
As part of the Circular Economy Package the EU has set a common target for EU countries to recycle 75% of all their packaging waste by 2030. Catherine Bearder MEP has written a letter to the Secretary of State for Environment Andrea Leadsom MP urging her to address the problem.
Anti-waste campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has recently highlighted the issue of the non-recyclability of disposable cups from the UK's biggest coffee chains. Lib Dem MEP Catherine commented:
"This level of waste is simply unacceptable, the Government must take action to clean up this mess.
"The success of the 5p plastic bag policy shows how with some incentive we can overcome big environmental problems.
"It is really important the UK does not drop its environmental standards following Brexit. We must work hard to meet the recycling targets set by the EU."
