Kezia Dugdale: Wake up and smell the coffee cups
The trend to rid the world of single-use plastic is a noble one and nobody deserves more credit for educating the public as to why it matters than Sir David Attenborough.
His focus on the damage plastic does to our seas has seen the rapid disappearance of plastic straws across the country and “micro-beads” from our beauty products. Sights are now set on takeaway coffee cups. Across the UK we use seven million cups which are sipped at and chucked away across the country every day. That’s 2.5 billion a year.
That’s kickstarted a new trend of “vegware” – compostable cups. That’s all well and good assuming it ends up a compost box. But spare a thought for the little guy in all of this. While big chain cafes can afford to dabble with alternatives to plastic, independents don’t have that luxury. Perhaps the best thing we can do for the environment is just sit down and take the time to drink that coffee instore.