Political Logic?

[Jim McCreadie]

This article, relating to a possible tax on single-use plastic cups, was reported on BBC World News app, Friday 5 January 2018:
QUOTE
The Environmental Audit Committee's chair, Mary Creagh MP, said "The UK throws away 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups every year - that's enough to circle the planet five and a half times. Almost none are recycled and half a million a day are littered. Coffee cup producers and distributors have not taken action to rectify this and government has sat on its hands. The UK's coffee shop market is expanding rapidly, so we need to kick start a revolution in recycling."
The government agrees plastic waste is a problem and will seek evidence on a tax on single-use plastics to improve the UK's recycling and reprocessing facilities.
END QUOTE
By her own admission "Coffee cup producers and distributors have not taken action to rectify this .....", so a tax on the public is proposed . Why should the public pay if "coffee cup producers and distributors have not taken action"? It's easier and more importantly, financially advantageous, for Government to impose yet ANOTHER TAX!

[glenshena]

As ftom Jan. 1st the public here are now being charged for the bags supplied in supermarkets for fruit and vegetables, the ones that were always free and now have become biogradable. Also in chemists. The charge goes from 1 to 3 Cents. You are not allowed to bring your own from home. More Expense!

[Vivc113]

Anything to make money.

[bonzo]

I don't think it's a case of anything to make money. The amount of plastic in a takeaway coffee cup and the recycling involved it wouldn't even cover the cost.

Personally I would do the same with plastic bottles. Throughout Europe there is a 25 cent charge on plastic bottles which you can retrieve when you return the empty.

[Jim McCreadie]

My point is this. One-use non-biodegradable plastic products were introduced by neither the consumer nor at their request. Supermarket chains, take-away food outlets and coffee houses, etc all profited as plastics were cheaper than that they replaced (for example, carrier bags with string handles). Polystyrene cups and trays encouraged consumers towards coffee-on-the-run and take-away foods (for example, McDonalds, Gloria Jeans, local curry house, etc). Let those who profited most pay for its removal.

Wasn't it 1d we got 55 years ago for a returned lemonade bottle? Entry to the Countess Cinema Saturday matinee was a wee paper bag of milk bottle tops or a clean jam jar. Everything old is new again!

If my 68-year old memory serves me correctly, I recall cups and plates made from a naturally occurring starch-like product which, by it's very nature, must have been biodegradable!!

[meekan]

The problem isn't a difficult one to solve. Recycling hotdrinkcups is difficult because of how they are made ie waterproof lining made of plastic fused onto and covered by a cardboard outer layer. To recycle these the two layers need to be separated into cardboard waste and plastic waste. The simple solution is to serve the hot drink in a cardboard cup with a separate waterproof sleeve. The recyclers would only have to slip the plastic out of the cardboard cup and recycle separately. Cost would be minimal.

[John Donnelly]

Here I go again.
A couple of points:-
1. Why do we need to grab a cup of coffee and go out onto the street to drink it as we walk along?
2. Why do McDonalds, Starbucks. etc need to reduce costs by using disposable plastic/paper cups? The recycling costs and those to the long-term environment are much higher than the cost of a cup and someone to wash it up. - Answer, they do not need to pay the recycling/environmental costs.
3. We've been recycling cups for centuries; use/wash/dry/re-use. Why can't we go back to the good old days when we took the time to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee at leisure with friends. I always thought that was the object of the exercise.
Apart from anything else, we're eating our seed corn after we've sold the family silver to pay for it.

JD.

[michaelm]

This article, relating to a possible tax on single-use plastic cups, was reported on BBC World News app, Friday 5 January 2018:
QUOTE
The Environmental Audit Committee's chair, Mary Creagh MP, said "The UK throws away 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups every year - that's enough to circle the planet five and a half times. Almost none are recycled and half a million a day are littered. Coffee cup producers and distributors have not taken action to rectify this and government has sat on its hands. The UK's coffee shop market is expanding rapidly, so we need to kick start a revolution in recycling."
The government agrees plastic waste is a problem and will seek evidence on a tax on single-use plastics to improve the UK's recycling and reprocessing facilities.
END QUOTE
By her own admission "Coffee cup producers and distributors have not taken action to rectify this .....", so a tax on the public is proposed . Why should the public pay if "coffee cup producers and distributors have not taken action"? It's easier and more importantly, financially advantageous, for Government to impose yet ANOTHER TAX!

Agree with you there Jim.

It's laughable but not surprising to hear an elected MP, Mary Creagh, make a statement criticising coffee cup producer's and distributor's for not taking any action on this issue and then virtually in the same sentence advocate for the introduction of a Tax on it when she knows full well that it's the consumer who'll end up having to pay the extra and not the companies she purportedly claims to be slating.

There are also other type's of recently developed plastic's that are just as inexpensive to produce but much more environmentally friendly than the oil based non-biodegradable stuff we've all been using for decade's.
I won't hold my breath on anything happening on that front soon though, as most changes to the status quo which involve the government and their 'established' big business friends usually take forever to materialise.

[Jim McCreadie]

It CAN be done for the cost of 3 cups of coffee!

When recyclable, reusable cups cups are available here in Australia, why does UK need to impose yet another tax of Joe Public?
https://camposcoffee.com/product/campos ... 8oz-black/

The Government's easy answer - TAX! Legislate to force change upon manufacturers of single-use non-bio-degradable products.

[John Donnelly]

I think that, as usual, we are tackling the symptoms and not the problem.
We, the public with our selfish behaviour, are the root cause of the problem.
JD.

[bonzo]

I read an article last month stating the average millennial in the UK is spending £57 per week on take away coffee and sandwiches.
To me a named coffee cup is a trendy thing, a wee status symbol. A bit like smoking was 50/60 years ago.
How much does a kettle cost these days? Now I know boiling the kettle pulls a wee bit of power from the grid but that's where it ends when you brew your own.

[Jim McCreadie]

She laid the blame unequivocally on the doorstep of one party then proposed a tax on a second party as the remedy! Where is the justice in that?

Oh aye, now I'm on my soap-box! How about the afternoon tea bill in the House of Lords? I'll bet there's not a plastic anything to be found in there! Snouts in the trough! Spare us mealy-mouthed shiny-bum politicians!

P.S. Despite appearances, I am neither socialist nor communist.