Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential environmental benefits of a tax on disposable coffee cups.

Major coffee chains already have a financial obligation to recover and recycle a proportion of the packaging they place on the market, including disposable coffee cups, as they are captured under the Packaging Waste Regulations. The industry is also taking further, voluntary action aimed at significantly increasing paper cup recycling rates by 2020.

We will be consulting widely on our plans for resources, waste and recycling in developing our 25 Year Environment Plan.