In what is thought to be the first measure of its kind among British local authorities, cafes in council-run buildings in Bristol are set to introduce a charge for single-use cups
The City’s council gave the green light on Tuesday (12 December) to a motion brought by Councillor Clare Campion-Smith, a member of the Liberal Democrats, who have previously called for a nationwide charge to curb waste of the cups.
The 5p levy is aimed at deterring people from using the disposable cups, which are considered harmful to the environment.
People are being encouraged to take their own re-useable cups.
It is thought to be the first action of its kind passed by a local authority in the country.
The levy motion was passed by LibDem councillor for Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze, Clare Campion Smith on Tuesday 12 December.
In the UK, up to 2.5 billion paper coffee cups are thrown away every year.
Only one in 400 cups is recycled because of the challenge of separating their plastic coating and cardboard in order to recycle the card.
No date has so far been set for the charges to come in to effect.
Around seven million single-use paper takeaway cups are thought to be used in the UK every day, but because of their plastic coating and the lack of specialist collections and reprocessors just 0.25 per cent of them get recycled.
