The latte levy is a signal that we need to change our behaviour

Retail Excellence Ireland has been out making the case for single-use coffee cups.

“It [the Government] wants consumers to use reusable coffee cups, but these are generally made from plastic which is clearly harmful to the environment. Single-use cups, meanwhile, are compostable and will degrade naturally,” said Duncan Graham, the lobby group’s managing director.

Retail Excellence has an understandable interest in this debate as the Government plans to impose a so-called “latte levy” of at least 20 cent on disposable paper coffee cups to encourage the use of renewables. Over the last 20 years many of his members, such as convenience stores and petrol stations, have started selling coffees and other hot drinks.

But it’s not as simple as Mr Graham would have us believe. Not all reusable cups are made from plastic. It is also not clear that a reusable plastic product is more harmful over its lifetime than multiple single-use alternatives. Furthermore, it is not surprising that the 2021 study conducted by Ramboll, referred to by Retail Excellence, concluded that switching to hard plastic “keep cups” would be more damaging for the environment than a recyclable paper cup: the study was commissioned by the European Paper Packaging Alliance.

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The majority of life cycle assessments (LCA) comparing reusable and disposable packaging find that reusable is better than disposable after a certain number of uses, described as the break-even point. The break-even point depends on the material of the two alternatives, where and how they are made, how they are transported, how many times the reusable cup is used, and how they can be recycled at end of life.

In 2021 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) published a report on single-use beverage cups and their alternatives. The report included a meta-analysis of 10 LCAs.

The report emphasised the importance of keeping reusables in rotation and concludes that “hot drinks should be served in reusable cups ... reusable options are more environmentally sound than any other single-use alternative, as long as washing of the reusable cups between uses is efficient. This means using an efficient, fully loaded dishwasher or, if handwashed, using cold water.”

Some of these businesses, for example coffee outlets in convenience stores, as well as the traders in farmers’ and craft markets — a vital part of Ireland’s food culture and tourism brand — do not have adequate dishwashing facilities to use real dishes.

But there are also businesses and customers using disposable cups when they could be using proper crockery. Lids keep the coffee hot for longer, and the cruel wonder of disposable ware is that it’s so good, and so damn cheap, it’s more cost effective for businesses to buy it and chuck it — or let their customers chuck it — than wash a reusable.

The price on the invoice does not include the upstream and downstream costs in terms of litter management and damage to the environment. In Ireland we pay approximately €1,600 per tonne to manage and dispose of public street waste. Throw-away cups are one of the most common litter items found in nature, and due to our proximity to the sea, some of these cups end up in the marine environment. Every year the people on this planet consume 500 billion single-use cups.

The latte levy is a signal that we need to change our behaviour, in the same way the plastic bag levy was. Just as with that earlier levy, the market will throw out some unwanted alternatives

Two further critical parameters are evident in the UNEP report: end-of-life treatment and the role of consumer behaviour.

In terms of single-use cups and end-of-life treatment in Ireland some of them are compostable because businesses, such as our own, trying to be more sustainable, have chosen to use them. This is known as a “regrettable substitution”, in this context moving from one type of single-use product to another, when instead we need to be moving away from single use altogether.

Compostable cups are required by the Single-Use Plastics Directive to have the warning label “plastic in product” because they contain biodegradable plastic. They do not degrade naturally, they have to be industrially composted, which can only happen if they end up in the organic waste stream. When they do land in the right bin, they are not adding any value to the compost. If all compostable packaging ended up in our organic waste bin the compost produced would be pretty poor.

The UNEP report suggests that paper cups may be a better alternative to reusables where high recycling rates of greater than 80 per cent can be achieved, however, recyclable cups — even if they miraculously end up clean and dry in your recycling bin — are generally not recycled in Ireland.

Cost of living

In relation to the timing of the levy, Retail Excellence rightly points out that the cost of living is soaring. In this inflationary climate the risk that many cafes and restaurants will crash out of the industry is real. In our business, in the last six months, we have had cost increases of 100 per cent for energy and 20 per cent for many ingredients, including, for example, 26 per cent for ice cream. On top that, our disposable compostable cups have increased 35 per cent for a 10oz and 21 per cent for a 12oz in just a year.

Any suggestion of a tax or levy that may further increase costs or dampen demand is hard to stomach. Our business is our livelihood, income for our team and revenue for a dozen Irish suppliers. But I am also a parent considering what I will say in 20 years’ time when my children ask me, “what were you thinking?”

The latte levy is a signal that we need to change our behaviour, in the same way the plastic bag levy was. Just as with that earlier levy, the market will throw out some unwanted alternatives. Rumours abound of companies waiting to flood the market with cheap “reusable” cups that will actually be treated like disposables, ousting Irish suppliers of compostable packaging and threatening jobs. The Department of the Environment needs to anticipate such consequences before the levy comes into play. It will need to back up the levy with other policy interventions, and a carefully curated communications strategy to maximise its effect while minimising impact on demand. Funds raised by the levy will go to a new Circular Economy Fund and should be used to support businesses specifically to move to reuse and refill.

Dublin food business Tang has already implemented a latte levy on single-use cups and food containers. Co-owner Stephen O’Dwyer said once it was communicated properly to customers, they didn’t have an issue with it and that it has encouraged more people to bring their own cups. There are ways to decouple the purchase of food and drink we love from the single-use disposables that are contributing to climate chaos, whether it is “sit and sip”, bringing our own containers or availing of a proper reusable system that ensures reusables stay in a loop. Last time I checked, hospitality and most retail businesses weren’t packaging companies. We need to sell, and customers need to buy our product, not the packaging.

Angela Ruttledge is campaign lead for Sick of Plastic, a joint VOICE and Friends of the Earth initiative, and co-owner of two Dublin restaurants