The UK’s throwaway culture is having a devastating impact on our streets, beaches and seas. Our report recommended practical solutions to the disposable packaging crisis. The government’s response shows that despite warm words they plan no real action. — Mary Creagh, chair Environmental Audit Committee
In an act of crass stupidity the UK government has rejected out of hand the latte levy.
This is to reject out of hand the evidence and proposals from the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee.
It is a kick in the teeth to the many indie coffee shops that have done the right thing, introduced KeepCup, compostable cups, offered a discount to those who bring in a clean KeepCup for a refill, and above all, encourage people to sit and relax with speciality coffee served in glass or ceramic.
It is a kick in the teeth to coffee drinkers who have bought a KeepCup, or better still relax in an indie coffee shop with speciality coffee served in glass or ceramic.
What the government has shown is that it is craven to Big Business. It has caved in to lobbying by the corporate coffee chains. The same chains, Starbucks and Caffe Nero that dodge tax, to which the government turns a blind eye.
2.5 billion disposable coffee cups are thrown away every year. Coffee cups that cannot be recycled, as what at first glance appears to be paper, is plastic-lined paper, and therein lies the problem, these plastic-lined cups cannot be recycled.
Specialist photographer Caroline Power aims to bring attention to the damage of plastic waste in the world's oceans in the hope industries and people will change production and lifestyle (image showing a sea of plastic, Caribbean) #womensartpic.twitter.com/XDzMj3Nz2y
I had never heard of Big Rock Coffee Company until my attention was drawn to a coffee shop hosting a focus group.
Canopy Coffee are looking for keen coffee enthusiasts to partake in a FREE focus group discussion this Wednesday 28th at 6.30pm to give some consumer reaction to an exciting new coffee concept – Big Rock.
When anyone talks of something being exciting, the alarm bells start sounding, worse still a focus group.
Why is everything referred to as exciting? It is PR marketing gibberish, nothing else.
Focus groups are widely discredited.
Why would any reputable coffee shop host a focus group?
Why restrict to the age group 25-40, does no one drink coffee outside this age group? What does it say of the coffee shop?
It took place, the snow was bad. No detailed report posted for those who could not attend or who were barred by the age discrimination.
My curiosity was piqued.
I decided to check out this coffee company, what was special, why did they need a focus group, why not simply sell speciality coffee to discerning coffee shops?
Big Rock is a small single-origin coffee company built on a big idea.
We’re committed to :
1. Providing exceptional quality coffee from single origin sources.
2. Making a big difference to people’s lives by offering stability and hope in an unpredictable world.
We’re honest people with a clear message. We wanted our name to reflect those principles.
It just so happens that we found our first coffee partner on a farm overlooked by a gigantic monolith called ‘El Peñol.’
Marketing hype, tells me nothing about the coffee.
Digging further, more marketing hype, ‘genuinely unique flavour profile rarely found in the UK’ they claim what they are doing is something new, ‘pioneer a new sourcing model directly from his farm’
We’re not willing to compromise and sell Better Coffee using an outdated system which disenfranchises our own farmers. That’s why we created ShareTrade.
And more of the same
Our greatest asset is our direct relationships with individual farmers; the people who’ve planted, nourished and tended their crop – often for decades. So before we started building websites and designing logos, we packed our bags and travelled to the mountains of Colombia.
We learned that the real struggle farmers face is uncertainty. Fluctuating prices and currency exchange rates, insect infestations and plant diseases that threaten their livelihood combine to make coffee farming an extremely risky way to provide for their families. Not only that, some of these problems lead to a lower yield and poorer quality coffee, creating a chain reaction that ends up hurting you, our customer.
The current system seems to work for everyone except the people who matter most- the farmers. There’s so much good work being done by agencies and NGOs on the ground, but we believe the only solution is a total review of the pricing model and striking a mutually beneficial economic deal with the farmers, and a better system of value creation. So we created ShareTrade, a new sourcing model.
NGOs are not doing an excellent job on the ground, they are outsiders, make promises rarely kept, take a few photos with smiling faces to be use for fund raising back home, then depart in their air-conditioned 4x4s, never to be seen again.
NGOs step in, launch projects, outsiders, with no local knowledge, no long term commitment.
As Phil Adams reports, they have a name for these projects in Uganda.
Project has become a dirty word. In Ugandan coffee farming circles it means “fuck things up and take pretty pictures”.
So what is ShareTrade? Is it a coffee crowdfunding, as the name would suggest? Or maybe with all the marketing hype, a scam?
No, it is Direct Trade, but given a different name.
ShareTrade is a new model of cooperation with coffee farmers that recognises and rewards the value they create.
We start with a simple viability price. This price is what’s needed to ensure the profitability of coffee farmers – and take it from us, it’s a lot more than the market price, or even the Fairtrade price. This viability price is guaranteed, come rain or shine (and you need a bit of both.) It’s the foundation that gives our farmers confidence, stability and a basis for committing to their farms and to producing quality coffee.
But a better price and a commitment to investment are just two thirds of what ShareTrade is. The final part is our relationships. We maintain constant contact with our farmers, sometimes as mentors, but mostly as pupils, working together to build a long term system which rewards quality and innovation. And as we look to develop our business and start to make a profit, our commitment is to sharing this with the farmers too.
ShareTrade is the heart of Big Rock – the foundation that lets us accomplish our dream: to bring about deep satisfaction at every level of the coffee chain.
FairTrade is a marketing scam to make smug middle class feel good, nothing more. It pays a tiny premium above commodity price. By not rewarding quality, it maintains growers in poverty.
Direct Trade is about building long term relationships, paying a higher price for quality. Everyone benefits, the growers, the roasteries, coffee shops, those of us who appreciate decent coffee.
Direct Trade offers transparency, accountability, traceability.
No mention by Big Rock of varietals, processing, Q grade of their coffee.
To claim they are doing something new, is disingenuous, it is insulting to the many who have been working hard for many years to establish long term relations to pay higher premiums for coffee, to bring us speciality coffee.
It’s time for our origin competition again! The prize is a trip with us to Peru later in the year. We've hidden this golden ticket in 1 of the bags of our Teofilo Bermeo. All you need to do is find the winning ticket, take a picture and send it to us. Get digging! 🇵🇪 🙌 ☕️ pic.twitter.com/AgY2L9HBaQ
It's that time again! 🆕☕⏰😄 new coffees from 🇸🇻 Finca San José 🇨🇷 Don Mayo Finca Bella Vista and 🇷🇼 Buf Nyarasiza as well as new Red blend too 🔴 head on over to Hasblog for more details https://t.co/t542LnmI26pic.twitter.com/El5KbUbzQF
we're off to BOLIVIA for the first time this year on #InMyMug Ep. 483 this week 🇧🇴🇧🇴🇧🇴 an origin that has a very special place in my heart 💖 https://t.co/BMABiDztV0 expect Mars Bars and tinned peaches from Don Carlos 🇧🇴💖🇧🇴 pic.twitter.com/WbmyzV3qoD
Violeta, Pascale & Kerry are in Costa Rica 🇨🇷 at the moment. Here they are with producers from San Jeronimo. Coffee from this co-operative goes into our #Revelation blend and we’ve been working with San Jeronimo for 8 years #uniondirecttradepic.twitter.com/9btsxXXL5X
The name Union in Union Hand-Roasted derives from a union of farmers, roasters, tasters, drinkers and tweeters.
Last week I was contacted by someone who tried to justify drinking at Starbucks because he did not wish to drink coffee at a hipster indie coffee shop. This level of bullshit only serves to reinforce their prejudice.
All Big Rock has done, is renamed Direct Trade, ShareTrade, claimed it is something new, then surrounded it with marketing bullshit.
And no this is not an ‘exciting new coffee concept’ as falsely claimed by Canopy Coffee who hosted the event, which took place during the snow.
Thank you to all the participants for this discussion evening in assocation with Big Rock. Hats off for braving the freeze and the brutal wind chill to talk about all things coffee.
An extremely informative and diverse discussion with lots of opinion and great insight, both in regard to what companies perhaps could be doing and what exactly we all were drawn to as consumers. A big thanks again.
Nothing informative. A detailed report for those who did not or could not attend or were excluded by the age discrimination would have been useful, maybe something to look forward to. The claim ‘what companies perhaps could be doing’ is simply false, many companies are engaged in Direct Trade, working hard to improve the lot of growers, improve the supply chain, to deliver quality coffee.
I have made no mention of the coffee, I have not tried, but Big Rock are not doing either themselves or the farm from which they source any favours with this bullshit. Excellent coffee speaks for itself. It does not need marketing hype or bullshit.
It may well be Big Rock supply excellent coffee. I am more than willing if supplied with a bag, to cup and see how it stacks up in a cup of coffee.
Real Fresh Coffee by the co-founders of Union has a section on Direct Trade, Coffeeography the growers and farms from where Stephen Leighton head of Hasbean sources his coffee, The Monk of Mokha the risks one Yemeni man Mokhtar Alkhanshali took to bring speciality coffee out of war-torn Yemen.
The Lincoln Coffee Festival kicks off on Wedneday 14 March 2018 at Coffee Aroma with an afternoon of conversation and book signing with Stephen Leighton. An opportunity to learn about Direct Trade with one of the pioneers of Direct Trade. No bullshit guaranteed. Chat and speciality coffee served by experts.
Waste is a problem, and yet there is no reason why it should be, other than poor design. We should have closed loops, the output of one process the input to the another, natural materials or man made which emulate these natural cycles.
In the natural world there is no such thing as waste, in ancient woodlands, we see not the accumulation of waste neither in time nor space.
Specialist photographer Caroline Power aims to bring attention to the damage of plastic waste in the world's oceans in the hope industries and people will change production and lifestyle (image showing a sea of plastic, Caribbean) #womensartpic.twitter.com/XDzMj3Nz2y
Plastic is a modern day curse, unlike glass or steel or aluminium, it cannot be recycled, it is down-cycled, which at best delays its one way trip to landfill or incineration, or finds it way into the oceans.
We have beaches covered in plastic, we have ocean vortexes that concentrate plastic, one such being the Sargasso Sea.
Plastic eventually breaks down in the sea, the action of the sea and sunlight, to tiny bits of plastic the size of plankton. Small fish eat the plastic mistaking it for plankton, big fish eat the small fish, bigger fish eat the big fish, we eat the fish.
Toxic chemicals leach off the land, attach to the plastic. These too find their way into our diet.
The weight of plastic in the oceans now equals that of plankton.
Plastic is eaten by sea birds and sea turtles. They die with their stomach full of plastic.
By 2050 the weight of plastic in the sea will be equal to the weight of fish.
Domestic waste accounts for less than 5% of total waste. The majority of waste is generated by businesses and industry. We could eliminate domestic waste entirely we would still be left with in excess of 95% of waste. That is not an argument for not dealing with domestic waste, it is an argument for dealing with the other 95%.
Hypocrisy by councils who do nothing themselves to eliminate waste whilst at the same time hectoring the rest of us.
Guildford runs a farmers market, Winchester a street food market. The standard on these markets abysmally low.
County Restaurant in Lincoln is the staff restaurant for employees of Lincolnshire County Council. Once again abysmally low environmental standards. Plastic cups for water, staff using disposable coffee cups, food served in polystyrene burger-style boxes, plastic cutlery.
These councils, in areas which are their responsibility, should be setting high standards for everyone else to follow.
In the UK every year we throw away an estimated 2.5 billion coffee cups. The cups appear to be paper, they are not, they are plastic lined, and therein lies the problem, the complexity of construction means they are not recycled.
Yes, these cups can be segregated and aggregated and Chiltern Railways is running a pilot scheme, but all this does is legitimises a system that should not exist. It also relies on the passengers segregating the coffee cups into three separate bins, liquids, lids and cups. The recovered plastic will be down-cycled into branded pens for Chiltern Railways, the loop has not been closed, a delay in the one way trip has been introduced, nothing more.
These takeaway cups may be a tiny percentage of total waste, but it is plastic waste and plastic waste is harmful to the planet.
We should consider whole life cycle costs, which is energy, including embedded energy, material used, environmental damage.
Reusable cups, for example KeepCup, can be refilled, coupled with a substantial discount, yes will be used. The best so far is 30% reuse, better than 1%, but nowhere near good enough.
KeepCup has become the industry standard, elegant and meets what can be described as barista friendly. Downside expensive, heavy and a pain to carry around. The target demographic office workers popping out for a coffee.
Compostable cups, ok if I have been shopping, have fresh produce, pop in with my fresh produce, then drop off on a compost heap. But what if not, what then with the compostable cup, throw in the bushes, it is after all compostable? And that assumes it actually composts when thrown on the compost heap, a moot point for the cups claimed to be compostable. At the very least we need honesty, compostable on a compostable heap within a reasonable time, otherwise coffee shops and their clientele trying to do the right thing are being conned, greenwash at best.
Paper composts on a compost heap, it improves the quality of the compost by adding fibre, it also helps to rot down quicker by opening up the compost heap to flow of air.
Reusable cups, compostable cups, address symptoms, not the underlying problems of grab it and go take away consumerist culture.
Which is part of a wider problem of society, the purchase of worthless consumer crap, from extraction, production, six months in our hands, then on to landfill or incineration.
Why do we disrespect coffee? How many hands does coffee pass through from the picker until it finds its way to Square Mile, to then be roasted, then on to a barista at Madame Waffle? We would not dream of pouring a good wine in a plastic cup, swigging it as we walk down the street, why therefore do we treat coffee in this way? Is it not to insult everyone from farm to cup?
Latte levy will not add any extra costs onto coffee shops, apart from the actual cost of administering it. That is why it is called a levy not a tax.
It is avoidable. It is designed to change behaviour.
Starbucks has introduced a 5p levy at a handful of stores in London, and already its clientele are bleating about the cost, threatening to go to Costa. Happy to pay for overpriced undrinkable coffee, and yet bleat about a 5p levy which is avoidable.
Why does any coffee shop wish to have its logo on a something that is bad for the environment, a negative association? Is it not far better to have a branded KeepCup to send out a positive message?
Speciality coffee shops care about the environment, support local businesses, buy direct trade coffee to support the growers.
Apart from being avoidable, the latte levy is or can be cost neutral. Takeaway coffee should cost more than sitting in a coffee shop with a speciality coffee served in glass or plastic. Hike the price of the takeaway coffee by the cost of each takeaway cup, then discount by that amount if brought in a KeepCup or similar for a refill. And yes, should be barista friendly the correct size and clean.
Unless bought in bulk, takeaway coffee cups are not cheap, add the branding, 30p a cup, and that is not counting the environmental costs.
A very simple principle, the polluter shall pay.
Baristas and coffee shop owners need to engage in dialogue with their clientele on how to reduce waste, encourage to sit and relax with speciality coffee served in glass or ceramic, discourage grab it and go takeaway consumerist culture.
A latte levy is to the benefit of speciality coffee shops as it matches their philosophy of serving the best coffee, an art and a craft to be appreciated. The losers will be the High Street chains which drain money out of the local economy, many dodge tax, serving undrinkable coffee, whose business model is built on grab it and go takeaway consumerist culture which is why they are lobbying hard behind the scenes to block the 25p latte levy.
And anyone who thinks business as usual, do nothing, is an option, it is they who will have to explain to future generations why they inherited a dead planet.
Everyone needs to take responsibility; the reality is that everyone has been getting away with it for a long time. — Peter Goodwin, Simply Cups co-founder
Chiltern Railways is to introduce a scheme to recycle coffee cups at its stations.
Each station will have bins to deposit the cups, which are then taken away to be recycled, except the passengers have to segregate liquid, lids and cups, three separate bins.
What appears to be paper cups are plastic-lined cups, and there lies the problem, these cups cannot be recycled and therein lies the problem.
At first glance the scheme looks good but does not stand up to close scrutiny.
The Chiltern Railways scheme is at best a distraction, at worst legitimises our throwaway consumerist culture.
If nothing else, it makes the point, plastic is not recycled, cf steel, glass, aluminium, it is down-cycled, the plastic to be turned into branded pens for Chiltern Railways.
In the natural world output from one process is the input to another. There is no accumulation of waste either in time or space.
Ancient woodlands are the perfect example.
Specialist photographer Caroline Power aims to bring attention to the damage of plastic waste in the world's oceans in the hope industries and people will change production and lifestyle (image showing a sea of plastic, Caribbean) #womensartpic.twitter.com/XDzMj3Nz2y
Anything that forms closed loops, where waste from one system is input to another is to be welcome, but that is not the case with plastic.
The loop is not closed, all that has happened is a delay, the plastic has been down-cycled, then onward to a one way trip to landfill, incineration or the ocean.
Plastic is a modern day curse. The planet is being smothered in plastic, plastic pollution is killing our marine life.
A reasonable assumption, either on the train or a takeaway stall at a station somewhere en route.
Make it mandatory, a condition of the lease, for any of these coffee outlets that takeaway cups have to be compostable, that they have on sale reusable cups for example KeepCup and offer a substantial discount if seeking a refill.
At the station, a bin for compostable waste or at rural stations a compost heap. Though there is a question mark on whether or not these compostable cups do actually compost on a compost heap.
On a different line, an example would be Alton Station, where volunteers maintain a station garden.
The introduction of a 25p latte levy will help to focus minds.
Whilst not applicable to rail passengers, we must end the grab it and go culture, encourage relax in an indie coffee shop with speciality coffee served on glass or ceramic.
The variation in the price of coffee from one coffee shop to another exceeds 5p, thus a 5p levy on takeaway coffee is going to make not a jot of difference.
It is quite amusing to see the reaction of Starbucks clientele bleating at having to pay 5p extra for takeaway coffee when they are more than happy to pay for overpriced undrinkable coffee. How they will howl when the proposed 25p latte levy is introduced. Maybe they should take the opportunity to discover the many excellent indie coffee shops that London has to offer. Maybe treat themselves to London Coffee or 111 Coffee Shops in London That You Must Not Miss to open their closed minds that there is another world out there, a world of quality coffee.
To be effective, it has to be coupled with other measures, reusable cups on sale, for example KeepCup, a substantial discount if bring a reusable cup for a refill.
Pret a Manger, to preempt the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee proposal on latte levy, introduced at the beginning of the year coffee at 49p, a 50p discount if bring your own cup for a refill. No reusable cups on sale, no information in store. A refusal to provide any statistics. A clever PR stunt, little more.
Starbucks introduced a 50p discount if brought in a refillable cup. Then a few months later, after grabbing the headlines, quietly dropped the discount to 25p.
The big chains are lobbying hard behind the scenes to block the 25p latte levy. The reason why, their business model is built upon grab it and go, takeaway, consumerist culture.
In the UK we are throwing away an estimated 2.5 billion takeaway coffee cups every year. These cups cannot be recycled, these are are plastic lined, and therein lies the problem.
Can introduce a reusable cup for example KeepCup, but expensive, bulky, a pain to carry around. The target demographics is office workers popping out for a coffee. And there is only noticeable take up if coupled with a substantial discount when used.
I have yet to see a KeepCup purchased, let alone used, but that was before the report by House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee proposing a latte levy.
Speaking to indie coffee shops, the proposed latte levy may have focused minds. Where they have recently introduced sale of KeepCup, these are selling.
Compostable cups are better then plastic-lined paper cups, but depend on access to a compost heap on which to deposit.
Plastic is killing the planet, marine life is dying. We have to eliminate plastic. We have to move to sit down and relax in an indie coffee shop with speciality coffee served in ceramic or glass.
Starbucks is a socially irresponsible company, they dodge tax.
To illustrate how much Starbucks cares about the environment, last week they opened a Drive-Thru outside Lincoln serving undrinkable coffee.
Starbucks claim they are the first to introduce a charge on disposable coffee cups. Is this true? I would love to hear from any indie coffee shops who have introduced such a charge.
I am aware of indie coffee shops considering hiking the cost of takeaway coffee by the amount it costs them to buy the cups, then discounting by the same amount if bring in a reusable coffee cup, thus cost neutral.
The media regurgitates a Starbucks press release and calls it news. No critical analysis.
The introduction of a 5p latte levy by Starbucks in a handful of London outlets should be seen for what it is, a PR gimmick, nothing more.
A few days ago I received an e-mail purporting to come from HMRC.
I did not open it. To open it risks malware. Nor did I delete. I mark such e-mail as a phishing scam.
The call that comes through purporting to be from your bank.
There has been an attempted fraud on your account.
Oh.
Yes, but do not worry, our fraud team caught it in time.
Can you before we discuss it any further confirm who you are? We will need to ask you a few questions.
Full name, date of birth, address ….
This is another example of a phishing scam.
Never discuss anything on the phone, and that includes carrying out a survey.
There has been two of these in the last couple of weeks.
One claiming to be a survey by a hospital, another a random survey.
Yet more examples of phishing scams.
For fraudsters a very useful app for their smart phone. Can set the number of where calling from that will appear on the victim’s phone, can set background noise to create the illusion of where calling from.
As I am writing, a call from a fraudster.
Hello, I am from BT Open Reach, I would like to discuss Internet.
Do not have BT Open Reach.
I would like to discuss Internet.
Don’t have Internet, middle of nowhere.
You do not know why I am calling?
Yes, you are a fraudster, I am recording the call. I have a police officer here.
You have a police officer there?
Yes. I have a police officer here, I am recording the call, the police officer would like to talk to you.
The line goes dead.
Facebook is a goldmine for fraudsters. Facebook is not a social network, facebook exists to steal and abuse personal information.
No matter how many times people are advised not to, they post on facebook where they live, schools, work, name of dog, name of partner, date of birth. All of which is valuable information to the fraudster. And to help the opportunist burglar, we are on holiday.
Once the phishing scam has access to bank account details, the account will be emptied, possibly even before the call ended.
Easy money for a conversation lasting little more than a minute. Scams that are netting the fraudsters millions of pounds.
The fraudsters recruit students, who recruit more students. Their accounts are used to launder the money.
Phishing scam is not the only fraud, there are many many more.
Vital Nature and associated companies dodgy pills and potions scam. Pills and potions of dubious provenance, laced with lead, several hundred times recommended dosage, billed for stuff not ordered, stuff ordered does not arrived, harassment phone calls, credit card fraud with card details. Scam mail delivered by Royal Mail. Operates out of France and that may only be a postal address, a front for somewhere else. By operating from France, outside jurisdiction of Police in the UK.
Commemorative coin scam. Mints offering worthless commemorative coins. That being only the first part of the scam. Second part, unsolicited coins arrive, if not returned at your expense will be billed.
Dodgy builder scam. Work that did not need doing. Details of house security passed to opportunist burglars.
Australian Lottery scam. You have won but need to pay administrative fee to release your winnings.
Long lost relative scam. Would love to visit, if could only could afford air fare from Australia.
The proposed 25p latte levy appears to have focused minds.
In the UK we are throwing away 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups every single year. These cups cannot be recycled due to a plastic liner in what at first glance appears to be a simple paper cup.
Specialist photographer Caroline Power aims to bring attention to the damage of plastic waste in the world's oceans in the hope industries and people will change production and lifestyle (image showing a sea of plastic, Caribbean) #womensartpic.twitter.com/XDzMj3Nz2y
An environmental disaster, deadly for for marine life.
Something has to be done. Hence the proposed latte levy.
**LATTE LEVY RESPONSE** We now have @frankgreen_official reusable cups for sale. As mentioned in @caffeinemag the cups will cost £19 but once you've used them 8 times with us we'll give you our profit of £5 back. We don't feel the need to make money from… https://t.co/FnaYZVHExrpic.twitter.com/b7fT5G7b30
Indie coffee shops as always are taking the lead, are starting to offer on sale compostable paper cups, reusable KeepCups, discounts if bring back cups for a refill.
If I am on my way home, have picked up fruit and vegetables, I can pop my compostable cup in with my fruit and vegetables, then when home, deposit my compostable coffee cup on the compost heap.
But what if not on my way home, what if not a convenient compost heap, what then with my compostable coffee cup? And therein lies the dilemma, what to do with the compostable coffee cup? It will find its way into the general waste stream.
The underlying assumption, is that my compostable cup will do what it says, actually compost.
Only one way to find out, drop a couple of cups on the compost heap, sit back and wait. That was a few weeks ago. Nothing has happened. They are siting there. Though to be fair, it is winter.
If I am at Infinity Foods in Brighton or at the farmers market in Guildford, I will often pick up a biodegradable plastic bag, these are made of plant-based cellulose.
I will fill with kitchen waste, throw on the compost heap, or at least I used to.
What I found was, everything rotted down, the bag still there, even after several cycles through the compost heap.
For comparison, yogurt pots, those made of waxed paper, do rot down, leaving behind the plastic liner.
The plastic bag is very thin compared with the compostable paper coffee cup.
We need more people to do as I have done, deposit these compostable paper cups on their compost heaps and monitor what happens.
KeepCup and clones thereof are refillable, but from observation the take up and usage is low. Easy to see why, expensive, bulky, often heavy, a pain to carry around.
This may though change, with 25p latte levy helping to focus minds and indie coffee shops reporting an increase in interest.
In Australia, or least Melbourne, Abigail Forsyth co-founder of KeepCup reports reuse rate has risen from 1% to 30%. Still low, but 30% a lot better than 1%.
The demographics to aim KeepCup at office workers popping out for a coffee, coupled with substantial discount when used.
Compostable coffee cups, KeepCup, are addressing the symptoms, not the underlying problem of grab it and go consumerist culture, typified by the chains serving disgusting undrinkable coffee.
Do we not value good coffee? Why do we not grant coffee the respect it deserves?
We wax lyrically about the terroir. We would not dream of swigging a good wine out of a plastic-lined coffee cup. Why therefore do we not treat a good coffee with the same respect?
We have to encourage relax in an indie coffee shop with speciality coffee served from glass or ceramic, the only way to appreciate a good coffee.
We need dialogue between baristas and clientele, as to what we must do to get rid of disposable coffee cups.
The latest issue of Caffeine, has a lead article Could the latte levy kill your local? It is nonsense and shows a lack of understanding of either the proposed latte levy, its impact or why it is necessary.
We have a simple principle, the polluter shall pay.
It is not acceptable that coffee shops externalise their costs onto the rest of society, which is what they are doing with plastic-lined coffee cups.
The 25p latte levy is not to penalise coffee shops, it is to make them pay their externalised costs, but more importantly, to change behaviour.
In the UK we are throwing away 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups every year. These coffee cups cannot be recycled. Although they appear to be paper, they are plastic lined, and therein lies the problem, these plastic lined coffee cups cannot be recycled and are adding to the growing problem of waste.
Specialist photographer Caroline Power aims to bring attention to the damage of plastic waste in the world's oceans in the hope industries and people will change production and lifestyle (image showing a sea of plastic, Caribbean) #womensartpic.twitter.com/XDzMj3Nz2y
The planet is being smothered in plastic, sea life is being destroyed by plastic.
Compostable paper cups are a step in the right direction, but they are not the answer. If I have a coffee in a compostable cup, I am on my way home, I can drop on the compost heap. But if not what then? Therein lies the dilemma. It will join the general waste stream.
How long to decompose? I dropped a couple on the compost heap a few weeks ago. Not a lot a happening. It is though winter.
I would like to see a few people carry out this experiment. After use, drop compostable cups on a compost heap, monitor what happens.
Reusable coffee cups are not the answer either. Bulky, expensive and a pain to carry around.
I have yet to see anyone buy a KeepCup or clones thereof, let alone see anyone walk in a coffee shop and use one.
Conversations in coffee shops bear this out. Even when substantial discounts are on offer, take up is low. Though this may be about to change.
I was in a coffee shop, where Frank Green cups were on sale. Ugly, inelegant and made of plastic. I asked how much did they cost, what discount if any if used? No one knew. They did not know because no one could ever recall one being sold let alone used. They could not even find it on the till.
Where reusable coffee cups come into their own, is if targeting office workers popping out for a coffee, and only then if coupled with a substantial discount.
Compostable cups, reusable cups, are addressing the symptoms not the underlying problem of grab it and go consumerist culture.
We have to encourage relax in an indie coffee shop with speciality coffee served in ceramic or glass, make takeaway coffee socially unacceptable.
Why do we not grant coffee the respect it deserves?
We wax lyrically about the terroir. We would not dream of swigging a good wine out of a plastic-lined coffee cup. Why therefore do we not treat a good coffee with the same respect?
Those who will lose out will be the chains, not the indie coffee shops. Their businesses model is built on grab it and go undrinkable coffee.
The 25p latte levy will not be absorbed any more than the 5p plastic bag charge is absorbed. To believe otherwise is to entirely miss the point of the levy. It is there as a deterrent to change behaviour, not to penalise coffee shops or coffee drinkers.
All the indie coffee shops I have spoken to welcome the 25p latte levy, they see it to their benefit, plus they see the environmental damage caused by disposable coffee cups.
Since the policy has been proposed, it appears to have focused minds.
One coffee shop I spoke to had had KeepCups on sale for a couple of weeks, more to see how they sold, than anything else. They sold like hot cakes. The day I was there, three had been sold that day.
Another coffee shop has already changed to compostable coffee cups and will have KeepCups on sale soon.
Other coffee shops have told me they are looking into both compostable cups and KeepCups.
**LATTE LEVY RESPONSE** We now have @frankgreen_official reusable cups for sale. As mentioned in @caffeinemag the cups will cost £19 but once you've used them 8 times with us we'll give you our profit of £5 back. We don't feel the need to make money from… https://t.co/FnaYZVHExrpic.twitter.com/b7fT5G7b30
Four Boroughs offer a substantial discount which is a good idea, more should follow their excellent example, though I prefer the elegance of KeepCup.
Or is it simply a clever PR gimmick rather like Pret a Manger offering organic filter coffee at 49p a cup, with no reusable cups on sale? Four Boroughs are not offering a discount if you bring in a reusable cup for a refill.
Research has shown, need to both offer KeepCup or clone thereof and a substantial discount to make any impact on reducing use of disposable cups. Either one on its own has little impact.
I recommended to a coffee shop about to open, buy in KeepCup, sell at cost as a promotion during first week, offer a discount for a refill. They are an integral part of a new bus station. Bus passengers would have been tempted and intrigued by their fellow passengers. Sadly my recommendations fell on deaf ears. Even worse they stuck up a poster telling bus passengers the coffee shop was not a waiting room, in other words bus passengers not welcome.
No one will be paying a latte levy, not if they use a compostable cup, not if they bring a cup for a refill, not if they sit and relax with a coffee served in ceramic or glass.
What we need is dialogue between baristas and clientele, as to what we must do to get rid of disposable coffee cups.
Rather than writing nonsense and showing lack of understanding of the issues, even worse asking readers to lobby Members of Parliament to oppose the latte levy, Caffeine should be urging its readers to lobby hard for the latte levy to be brought in at the next Budget.
By calling for no latte levy, Caffeine is not helping either indie coffee shops or the planet, they are working hand in glove with the chains who behind the scenes are lobbying hard to block the latte levy.
Latest scam from The Westminster Collection is the RAF 100 commemorative coin.
1/x The Westminster Collection RAF 100 coin scam yet another worthless commemorative coin scam. Back of envelope make it look official. #fraud#scampic.twitter.com/UI7rGvWZd8
Delivered in an official looking envelope, with accompanying sob story of two WWII aircrew, and what better way to commemorate these brave aircrew than buying a worthless commemorative coin.
Not only that, you have even been specially selected for a discounted special offer, you and every other mug who has received the letter, fools and their money easily parted.
Veterans appear to have been targeted. Has a veteran organisation handed over details? Worrying and depressing if that be the case. But equally could be on a scam list.
The Princess Di coin scam, Falkland War coin scam and many others form what is known as the mint scam.
These are not the only scams. Vital Nature and associated companies pills and potions scam.
These worthless commemorative coins forms only part of the commemorative mint scam. The next part, if foolishly part with money, will be supplied unsolicited coins, billed if not send them back at your expense.
Send a polite letter, have not ordered unsolicited goods, will be kept for ten days then disposed of, onus on the mint to arrange collection at their expense.
The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 state that unsolicited goods which have not been ordered and are sent ‘out of the blue’ can be treated as an unconditional gift; in other words, you can keep them or dispose of them as you wish. The Regulations make it a criminal offence to demand payment or threaten legal action to obtain payment for unsolicited goods or services.
If as has been reported RAF Association has endorsed this coin, the trustees should resign for legitimising a scam.
Specialist photographer Caroline Power aims to bring attention to the damage of plastic waste in the world's oceans in the hope industries and people will change production and lifestyle (image showing a sea of plastic, Caribbean) #womensartpic.twitter.com/XDzMj3Nz2y
These coffee cups are not as first appears paper, they are paper lined with plastic and therein lies the problem, these plastic-lined coffee cups cannot be recycled and contribute to the growing problem of plastic pollution.
Contrary to what Caroline Lucas has claimed, reusable coffee cups are not the answer.
I have yet to be in a coffee shop and seen a reusable cup sold, let alone used. When I have inquired, I have been told take up is minimal, even when a substantial discount is on offer.
There is also as James Hoffman has drawn attention to, a hygiene problem if people bring in their own cups to be washed.
Compostable coffee cups of little use, unless a compost heap on which to deposit.
Resusable cups are expensive, bulky, inconvenient to carry around. With the exception of office workers popping out for a coffee to take back to the office and even then only if coupled with a discount, unlikely to have any impact.
Pret a Manger started the New Year with filter coffee at 49p a cup, a 50p discount if brought own cup. In the absence of any in-store information, lack of reusable cups on sale, will make little difference. Little more than a PR stunt.
Why are we not seeing any statistics published? I would expect to see a weekly report, to see what impact, if any, in reducing the use of plastic-lined takeaway cups.
Without seeing any results from Pret a Manger SumofUs have launched a petition asking that Costa follow suit.
This is tinkering at the edges, addressing the symptoms not the underlying problem.
The underlying problem is the grab it and go consumerist culture, encouraged by chains like Costa and Pret a Manger, it is what their businesses model is built on.
What we should be doing is encouraging relax with a cup of speciality coffee served from glass or ceramic in an indie coffee shop. Only then are we gong to reduce the plastic pollution.
We should also be pushing for the introduction of a 25p latte levy at the next Budget.
