Daniel Zeichner MP Standing up for Cambridge
Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge, will visit Benet’s café this Friday (6th April) at 11:30am to trial out the cafe’s reusable coffee cup scheme that earns customers a 50p discount with every purchase. Mr Zeichner will experience first hand how customers are benefiting from a saving on their caffeine hit, whilst reducing waste and helping the environment.
Mr Zeichner said: “Tackling plastic and other unnecessary waste has shot right up the agenda. We are all becoming more aware of how our every day habits are devastating the environment and I think the public are much more receptive to the sorts of changes we need to make if we are to address this.“
“If we are going to get a grip of the impact that human activity is having on the environment, we need to come up with smarter ways of doing things. The reusable coffee cup scheme is a perfect example of that. Not only will using your own cup save you 50p when you buy your coffee but it will also reduce the amount of coffee cups that go in the bin -; that’s a lot of perks to me.
“I want to congratulate Benet’s for taking on this scheme as I have no doubt that it is much harder for independent shops to do this than the chain coffee shops. They are promoting environmentally conscious consumerism and I think customers will respond positively to that. I want to see the Government take stronger action on this because in my opinion they have been all froth and no substance so far and we need to see more action, faster!“
Every year 2.5 billion coffee cups are thrown away in the UK, however less than 1 in 400 of these cups are recycled[i]. Public concern over waste disposal, and its impact for the environment, has increased in recent months putting the issue high up the political agenda. Recommendations from the Environmental Audit Committee earlier this year suggested a 25p ‘latte levy’ be introduced on disposable cups to combat coffee cup waste. Increasingly businesses are introducing schemes to assist with the reduction of waste.