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New measures to incentivise the use of reusable and recycled alternatives to disposable coffee cups are set to be introduced in the coming months.
The long-mooted ‘latte levy’ was set to be introduced by the end of 2021, but was pushed back into this year.
It was signed into law by President Higgins on Thursday.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Friday, Minister of State with responsibility for Communications and the Circular Economy, Ossian Smyth, said there would be a public consultation process with the public about the levy.
“It’s going to take about 90 days for us to do the public consultation. It’s not just about coffee cups, it’s any food packaging or any product packaging,” he said.
“If we find out that there is a good reusable alternative and we think it’s feasible to move to that, we can put a small levy on something and encourage consumers to change.
“We’re starting with coffee cups. We’ve been through this process before with plastic bags 20 years ago and we made exceptions.”
The cost of the levy on disposable coffee cups will be 20c.
Nearly half a million disposable coffee cups are currently sent to landfill or incineration every day, amounting to 200 million cups a year.
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