Single-Use Disposable Beverage Cups Charge: Partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment

4. Rational for government intervention

It is expected that the implementation of a charge on single-use disposable beverage cups will:

• Reduce the volume of waste created;
• Reduce the numbers of single-use disposable beverage cups entering terrestrial and marine ecosystems through littering; and
• Encourage wider and more sustainable behaviour change around the consumption of single-use items to tackle our throwaway culture.

There are a number of businesses and organisations in Scotland who have charged, or currently do charge, for single-use disposable beverage cups^{[37] [38]}. This is voluntary and there is no consistent overarching approach for implementation. While these individual initiatives have demonstrated a reduction in the consumption of single-use disposable beverage cups, as they are happening often in isolation there may be unintended consequences. Interventions do not occur in isolation and increased costs at one business may shift demand to another which is not implementing an equivalent charge^[39].

A regulatory approach which mandates a consistent single-use disposable beverage cup charge across all in-scope businesses in Scotland would eliminate the leakage effect caused by disjointed efforts to implement charges and other measures to reduce consumption of single-use disposable beverage cups. A seemingly simple concept of introducing a charge for single-use disposable beverage cups operates within a complex economic and social system of interacting groups of actors which necessitates a consistent and level playing field to be successful at a national level.

Business goodwill to implement charges on single-use disposable beverage cups to reduce consumption can only be relied upon up to a certain level to deliver positive social outcomes. The main goal of business is profit maximisation and charges will only be implemented as long as it is deemed to be commercially viable. This needs to be coupled with an increase in consumer uptake on beverage sales through capitalising on increasing levels of public environmental concern^[40].

Businesses which aim to be more environmentally conscious and increase prices in a situation which will not reward them for doing so, could be put at a competitive disadvantage. This could lead to a roll back on sustainable practices guided almost entirely by market conditions and not the pressing need to curb resource use to combat climate change and other environmental pressures. Regulation is therefore necessary to help decouple the number of single-use disposable beverage cups consumed from purely economic forces.

There has been a noticeable shift in public opinion towards reducing single-use disposable beverage cups in Scotland. Polling has shown that 77% of people living in Scotland are concerned about the amount of single-use plastic and single-use packaging that is used in Scotland^[41]. General environmental and circular economy policies and practices have increased consumer demand for more sustainable business practices, as well as wider societal and cultural drivers such as campaigning and media.

This has not yet proven to be significant enough to turn the tide of rising single-use disposable beverage cup usage, as can be seen by the growing numbers year on year. Numbers have risen from around 200 million in 2011^[42] to 388.7 million in 2021-22^[43]. It must be noted that 2021 still had many COVID-19 related restrictions in place. As mentioned previously, COVID-19 had an intense and particular impact on the hospitality sector in Scotland. It is not possible to tie this effect to the total number of single-use disposable beverage containers in circulation because, while the market shifted more towards the provision of these containers, business closures in the hospitality sector caused by COVID-19 will have also reduced the total number of containers in circulation. No data is available for this year (2024) it is likely that the changes in single-use disposable beverage cups caused by COVID-19 and associated restrictions will have lessened somewhat.

Regulation can capitalise on, and drive further behaviour change. Financial incentives will encourage consumers to put their environmental concerns into action. Additionally, the policy will have an associated suite of communication measures to ensure consumers and businesses are prepared for the charge which will further drive behaviour change efforts.

Many single-use disposable beverage cups in Scotland are littered each year^[44]. According to the latest Scottish Litter Survey, 52% of those surveyed reported frequently seeing single-use (hot and cold) drinks containers in their local area^[45]. Earlier data from 2016 suggests that drinking cups make up 0.5% of all litter^[46]. At the UK level, an estimated half a million single-use coffee cups are littered each day in the UK^[47], or 182.5 million a year, 4% of all cups placed on the market. Taking a population share for Scotland^[48] of the 182.5 million single-use cups littered every year, or applying the 4% to the 388.7 million estimate for Scottish single-use disposable beverage cups placed on the market per year^[49], both provide an estimate of 15 million single-use disposable beverage containers littered in Scotland each year.

While it is technically possible to recycle single-use disposable beverage cups, many still can only be recycled at specialist processing facilities where proper end-of-life treatment necessitates correct waste stream separation and processing. The materials contained in many single-use disposable beverage cups are high in volume and low in value, it can therefore be economically unviable for businesses to collect and transport them over significant distances^[50]. This is compounded by the fact that the majority of single-use disposable beverage cups are used for ‘on the go’ consumption, which can lead to them being discarded in diverse locations over a widely dispersed geographical area^[51].

The result is that many single-use disposable beverage cups end up in residual waste streams, landfill, or leak into the environment though littering. Furthermore, increased recycling of single-use disposable beverage cups would not reduce overall consumption levels to the same extent as a direct charge.

When many single-use items are disposed of incorrectly, potentially harmful materials and chemicals end up in terrestrial and marine environments. Depending on the materials in question, some can persist for hundreds of years causing enormous damage to ecosystems. Chemicals added during the manufacture of plastics can enhance durability, act as a colorant, plasticizer, stabilizer or increase flame retardancy. Some of these chemicals are classified as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and endocrine disruptor chemicals (EDCs) and will further harm terrestrial and marine life if ingested as microplastics^[52].

From a socioeconomic perspective, littering of single-use disposable beverage cups imposes direct societal costs in the form of litter clean-up for local authorities and other organisations; and indirect costs such as the visual effect of litter. Given these costs, the policy is necessary to directly drive down the consumption of single-use disposable beverage cups and therefore reduce their negative social and environmental externalities. This can come either from consumers either choosing to have a sit-in beverage or bringing or borrowing a reusable cup instead.

Reducing the consumption of single-use disposable beverage cups will contribute towards delivering one of the key priority actions within the Scottish Government’s draft Circular Economy and Waste Route Map^[53], and forms part of the system-wide vision to accelerate more sustainable use of our resources across the waste hierarchy between now and 2030.

With reference to the National Performance Framework (NPF)^[54], the proposed legislation is directly applicable to the following National Outcomes:

• We value and enjoy our built and natural environment and protect it and enhance it for future generations^[55].
• We reduce the local and global environmental impact of our consumption and production^[56].

Directly applicable from the Measurement Set^[57] are:

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
• Improve Scotland’s reputation;
• Improve people’s perceptions of their neighbourhood;
• Improve the condition of protected nature sites;
• Increase natural capital;
• Improve the quality of Scotland’s marine environment;
• Reduce Scotland’s carbon footprint; and
• Reduce waste generated.