In the UK, we use 7 million disposable coffee cups every day and 2.5 billion every year. Only 1% of these are recycled properly.

Some businesses choose compostable coffee cups as a way of wanting to do something good for the environment.
In theory they are a good alternative to single-use plastic cups as they are made from plants and they can be broken down through an industrial process into compost that will feed soil.

However in order for this to work, the compostable cups need to be collected and taken to an industrial composting facility (these facilities reach up to 60 degrees centigrade, a temperature a regular home composting bin would never be able to sustain).

However they are takeaway cups, so when you’ve finished your hot drink you are far, far away from that business' collection bin (if they had one!).

Therefore they end up in general waste or littering the environment. From the research that has been done it looks like it’s going to take thousands of years for compostable coffee cups to break down. OR they end up in recycling but then contaminate this and therefore divert good recyclable material to landfill.

Therefore we, the undersigned, call on Chesterfield Borough Council to provide, or at least investigate into, compostable coffee cup collection bins across Chesterfield so that these cups can be disposed of properly, so as to align with our climate emergency declaration and climate action plan.