Victory for The Independent’s Cut the Cup Waste campaign paves the way towards a greener future
We could not have imagined that our campaign against single use plastics and for a latte levy on disposable coffee cups would be met with such rapid success. We launched our Cut the Cup Waste campaign in January this year and today we report that Robert Jenrick, a Treasury minister, signalled that Philip Hammond, the chancellor, will be acting to reduce waste in this autumn’s budget.
We have yet to see which specific proposals the government will adopt. The Independent has supported a range of ideas, from a 25p levy on disposable cups to an increase in the existing tax on non-recyclable plastic packaging known as “packaging recovery notes”.
But the reaction to the Treasury’s consultation exercise – 162,000 responses, overwhelmingly in support of the principle – make government action a certainty. We will continue to hold the chancellor, and Michael Gove, the environment secretary, to account for the measures to come in the budget, while also preparing to use the momentum of this success to urge the government to go further and faster towards environmental sustainability.