Mp's Want A Levy On Take Away Coffee

[emmie]

as if it's not expensive enough. Surely there must be a better way to dispose of all these billions of coffee non disposable cups.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42564948

[Barmaid]

Whilst it is described as a tax, it is a voluntary tax. Those who choose to buy from these outlets will pay the tax so it is self-selecting.

I shall happily pay the extra for the very few occasions I partake of a take away drink. And I shall do so in the pleasant knowledge that I'm annoying people who seem to have got so awfully het up about it.

[ummmm]

I'm not very observant because I barely notice people drinking in the street or being on their phones.

[EcclesCake]

Chin-chin Barmaid!

[Barmaid]

To be honest, I would rarely drink in the street. Its a miracle if I can get from A to B without some disaster befalling me so drinking as I walk is asking for trouble. I'm more likely to get a take out and go sit in a quiet park or take it back to the Court. I do find these High Street coffee shops very noisy and I need peace.

[dunnitall]

Coming late to this but having seen it on TV news. IMO why produce something that cannot be recycled in this day and age? If these retailers think first, environmental friendly should be the catchword but it doesn't seem to happen in most instances. Humans always dirty their own nest... (Animals are a bit more savvy in that way). So not surprising humans take the cheapest and or most viable action.

No need for tax or whatever it is if people thought things through.

[bednobs]

well in all honesty, people who work are much more rarely "on the street" to witness this stuff. For example, when i'm "on the street" i am too busy doing what i am doing to notice other people. In the winter week, the only time im on the street is when i am walking to my car from home (about 10 foot) and from the car park to my office (about 20 foot)

[EDDIE51]

The only reason they are difficult to dispose of is that they are a paper cup with a plastic liner. The plastic liner has to be separated from the paper cup and put through a different disposal system. Separating the two is not easy and there are only two places in the UK that have the capability to do it. If the coffee companies would use waxed paper cups in place of plastic lined cups the problem would not exist. However a waxed paper cup costs a few fractions of a penny more than a plastic lined cup. So the coffee companies do not use them. They say that due to the many thousands of cups they use a day there would be a loss of profit. So they just go for what is cheapest and don't give a t*** about the impact on the environment. ;

[emmie]

Eddie
as long as they rack up massive profits they don't give a damn about the environmental ramifications.

[TWR]

It's a wonder they don't have a "fart patrol" in this tax mad country.

[emmie]

they do as it happens its called the HOP> lol

[New Judge]

“The plastic liner has to be separated from the paper cup and put through a different disposal system.”

There’s a place a few miles from me which burns rubbish and turns it into either electricity or heat for local homes (not sure which – the train is travels too fast at that point for me to read the details and in any case I'm usually up to the letters page in the Torygraph). I should have thought that cups made from cardboard and plastic would be ideal fuel for that furnace and there must be loads of such installations throughout the country. There’s no real need for them to be recycled. Load of fuss over nothing. All it needs is a bit of organisation to get the empties to the required place.

[Old_Geezer]

Reusable cups are all very well in the workplace; but a ridiculous suggestion for those out & about, maybe shopping, who simply want a cup on the go. No one is going to permanently carry a cup around in case they suddenly want ultra expensive coffee. The onus is on the retailer to supply recyclable cups and the authorities to be able to recycle them: not find an excuse to kick Joe Public again. That stated, if I'm out and want a coffee, chances are I'm looking for a table to myself and a sit-down for a bit.

[Old_Geezer]

"They say that due to the many thousands of cups they use a day there would be a loss of profit." Is that really true ? Of course any addition expenditure, without an accompanying price rise, reduces profit by some miniscule amount; that just a truism. But is this claim that, on very expensive cups of coffee, the profit is so wafer thin that fractions of a penny would remove it completely ? As that has to be what would be being implied.

[bundleone]

I cant understand this obsession with drinking coffee at every opportunity, the coffee shops are everywhere and whe i am out with some friends it’s, ‘lets get a latte or mocha’ whenever they see a coffe shop, NO i would not waste £ 2.50 on a drink in a paper cup, takeaways are one thing but why have paper cups in a sit down place like greggs, surely they could provide crockery.

[Jackdaw33]

You make a valid point. If you are sitting down there is no reason why your hot drink cannot be served in crockery, which is easily washable. Having said that, I'd sooner be found dead in a brothel than in Greggs.

[TWR]

Free drinks and a bikie in a Brothel Jack.

[Old_Geezer]

Wot ! No broth ?

[emmie]

TWR do you mean biccie, not sure what a biker has to do with a brothel...

[TWR]

Morn Emmie,

[emmie]

morning TWR, just for once it's a beautiful but cold day, by the looks of it, clear blue sky but very chilly.