Are you ready for the so-called ‘latte levy’? This 20 cent tax on disposable coffee cups aims to deter Irish consumers from dumping half a million of them a day. First mooted by the Government in 2021, there’s no sign of it yet. The people of Killarney haven’t waited to do the right thing.
Over a year ago, Killarney, Co Kerry, became the first town in Ireland to phase out single-use coffee cups. If you want a takeaway coffee there, you must bring your own cup, or pay a €2 deposit for a reusable cup that is returned when the cup is given back.
More than 70 local businesses, schools, clubs and community organisations signed up to The Killarney Coffee Cup Project. Celebrating its one-year anniversary in July, the town has prevented over one million single-use coffee cups from reaching landfill or becoming litter.
“We are very fortunate to live beside a 26,000-acre national park, so locals see it as a great way to give back to their local environment,” says Killian Treacy of Luna Coffee+Wine in Killarney.
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The scheme has become another feather in the town’s tourist mecca cap.
“When you explain to a tourist why Killarney doesn’t use single-use coffee cups any more, they are always blown away,” says Treacy. “It’s always the same feedback: ‘I wish my town could do the same.’”
The scheme is shifting behaviour among locals too, says Treacy.
“We are hoping that if you are a coffee drinker, the coffee cup now comes with you in the morning – ‘phone, keys, wallet, coffee cup’,” he says.
[ ‘Latte levy‘ will halt dumping of 500,000 cups a day, says GovernmentOpens in new window ]
Aren’t customers annoyed by the cappuccino foam in their used cup leaking into their pocket or bag? It’s not really an issue in Killarney where participating coffee shops abound. “Just bring your deposit cup to the next coffee shop you see and they’ll take the dirty one and give you a fresh one,” says Treacy. No purchase necessary.
What about those who order a coffee to sit-in, but in a takeaway cup? Some believe it stays hotter that way. That was common before the scheme, he says. “I think we are changing that mindset. Now, you’d be ashamed to be seen with a disposable cup,” says Treacy.
Those afraid of cold coffee could always just ask their barista to go extra hot.
It wasn’t always to do with the heat of the coffee either, but more with people liking the feel [and the look] of a disposable cup, he believes. He blames the movies.
Coffee in a takeaway cup just isn’t a thing in other places. Walk down the street in many parts of the Continent and you’ll be hard pushed to find someone so time-poor they can’t drink their coffee sitting down.
“I think we’ve become so Americanised, we want everything ‘to go’, but on the Continent there is a cafe culture where you sit down to drink your coffee,” says Treacy.
[ The latte levy is a signal that we need to change our behaviourOpens in new window ]
Not everyone has stepped up to the plate. “It’s mostly the independent coffee shops that are participating. The Centras and Spars have self-service machines, they all use paper cups. That’s a disappointment,” he says.
Only one per cent of cups marked as ‘recyclable’ end up being completely recycled, according to the Killarney Coffee Cup Project.
Many paper cups sold as ‘compostable’ or ‘recyclable’ are not due to the plastic lining inside the cup. There are only a few recycling plants that can cater for these mixed-use materials, meaning that 99 per cent of cups marked as ‘recyclable’ will never make it to a recycling facility.
The disposable coffee cup levy will come eventually, adding 20 cent to your takeaway fix. You can get ahead of the tax and help the environment by getting a reusable cup now.