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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions (a) she and (b) Ministers and officials of her Department have had with coffee chain companies on the disposal and recycling of take-away cups.

This Government remains committed to recycling and will be consulting widely on our plans for resources, waste and recycling in developing our 25 year environment plan engagement framework. We also continue to work with businesses, local authorities and waste managers on policies and initiatives to encourage recycling.

Defra Ministers, officials and I have had a number of discussions with a range of stakeholders in drawing up our 25 year environmental plan and in developing ongoing policy; as part of these discussions, companies and representative trade organisations will raise issues and ideas about specific products or treatments.

As part of our ongoing stakeholder engagement, Defra officials were involved in discussions regarding the development of the Paper Cup Recycling and Recovery Group Manifesto and attended its launch on 27 June 2016. This manifesto aims to significantly increase paper cup recycling rates by 2020 and includes coffee chain companies as signatories.