Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. As he will be well aware, 200 million coffee cups go to landfill in this country every year. It is about time we did something about that and I congratulate him on all the efforts he has made to date in that regard. I am a regular customer at the Abbey River Coffee café, located in the historic Potato Market next to Mathew Bridge in Limerick. It is a family-owned and locally run business that has been at the forefront of running a sustainable business since it opened a few years ago. It already runs a deposit-and-return scheme as part of its operations and has been offering a reduction in price on drinks when the customer brings his or her own cup. The owner has implored me a number of times to ask the Minister of State when the levy is going to be introduced. This proactive business, which wants to see progress in the area, is very keen to get on with it and to bring in a system whereby those 200 million paper cups will not go to landfill every year.

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