The UK Government has cancelled plans to mandate businesses to take back single-use cups and recycle them.
The policy was developed under the previous government and planned for introduction through extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) regulations.
The mandatory cups take-back policy would have affected businesses that supply drinks in fibre-based composite (FBC) cups filled at the point of supply and employ at least 10 full-time staff members. These businesses would have been obligated to:
- Supply a bin on their premises to collect used cups.
- Make arrangements for recycling.
- Report the weight of cups sold and collected to the regulator.
A spokesperson for the Defra said analysis showed the scheme would add £52 million in costs to the government and industry. They estimated the cost of implementing the policy would exceed the benefits and have a limited impact on environmental objectives.
But, this means that there is an increased likelihood of political pressure to introduce a ‘single-use cup levy across the UK as seen in Scotland.
Martin Kersh (executive director of the Foodservice Packaging Association – FPA) said: “The dropping of the scheme by government is of course a setback, but we mustn’t let it devalue the benefits of a successful takeback scheme for paper cups. Rather, we should be spurred on to develop it further and prove that on this occasion government has got it very wrong.”
The Vending & Automated Retail Association has reminded operators to continue to work with clients and their existing waster contractors to arrange collection and recycling of single use paper cups (see ‘Simpler Recycling’ section).
