The UK's biggest coffee chain Costa Coffee has said it will recycle as many disposable cups as it sells by 2020 in a "cup recycling revolution".
In response, A Plastic Planet Co-Founder Sian Sutherland: "It's positive that Costa Coffee is taking measures to address the environmental impact of its business. But this pledge is unlikely to do much to halt the lunacy of plastic-lined coffee cup waste.
"No matter how many times the containers are recycled, the vast majority of plastic-lined coffee cups will end up in the environment sooner or later. The UK throws away 2.5 billion coffee cups every year, and many of these find their way into the ocean. The cups' plastic lining ensure they will remain on the earth for centuries. It's bonkers.
"The answer then is simple. We have to turn off the plastic tap. This means using 100% plastic-free coffee cups. It is not beyond the wit of man to make a coffee cup from fully-compostable materials with the infrastructure to actually compost it. We need to stop looking at every issue in a silo - it is all connected - packaging, waste management, our oceans and our soil . A plastic recycling revolution won't cure our pollution problem, but a plastic-free holistic one just might."
