John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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479. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he or his Department explored the necessary steps needed to encourage coffee vendors to incentivise customers to carry their own coffee cups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3274/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I am working on several initiatives to deal with a range of single use wastes, including coffee cups. The Deputy will be aware I recently announced that I am considering introducing a levy on disposable coffee cups in an attempt to effect environmental behavioural change and incentivise individuals to use their own cups on the go. While the policy in this regard is at a very early stage in the process, a levy such as this has proved very successful in the past in curbing the use of plastic bags.

I am conscious that in today’s “on the go” culture, there is a demand for disposable cups. In this regard, my Department has been meeting with packaging manufacturers who produce coffee cups to explore options to move away from the traditional non-recyclable coffee cups to compostable and recyclable alternatives. This is in line with the strategy from the EU on plastics released on 16 January 2018 which has set a target date of 2030 by which all packaging placed on the EU market can be reused or recycled in a cost effective manner.

In addition the EU Plastics Strategy encourages industry to come up with voluntary pledges to boost the uptake of recycled plastics. My Department will ensure that the industry is aware of the opportunity to take this voluntary action and at the same time will encourage the vendors to take other voluntary actions immediately such as rewarding customers who bring their own cup.

Finally, my officials and I have been in consultation with the compost industry to ensure that any significant change in the type of coffee cup placed on the market in Ireland can be treated appropriately.