Many believe the paper cup is recyclable and so do not see the harm with grabbing a coffee daily in a paper cup. However, this is not the case. The majority of paper cups are not recyclable, and therefore a staggering amount make their way to landfill each day (whether they took a route through a recycling centre first or not). 2.5 billion paper cups are used each year - and that's quite a bit of material going into landfill. We are now in the age where reusable cups are popular - we all have a flask or reusable plastic mug which we take with us on car journeys. Therefore we need to bring these more into our everyday lives for the sake of the planet. One way to encourage people to go for a reusable plastic cup rather than a non-recyclable paper cup is to charge extra for this non-recyclable material. I believe this would encourage more and more people to use the recyclable mug, which can only be a good thing. Due to this, I agree that a tax on paper cups could be the answer.

A tax could help, but I'm not sure that people will honestly notice an extra few pence on the price of their extremely expensive latte. If you'r already paying £3.50, would you refuse to pay £3.55? Probably not. But then again, the plastic bag "tax' worked quite well, and people thought twice about paying that extra 5p. Perhaps if it was framed in the same way - "And would you like a cup for your coffee, for an extra 5p?" it might work. Some places do already give a discount if you bring your own travel mug. This whole thing could be extended to drinking straws, disposable cutlery, etc.

The billions of disposable coffee cups thrown away each year globally should be replaced with reusable ones because they are a waste of resources and harm forests, an international coalition of NGOs has urged.

Actually for example in the UK not everyone outside was convinced by a tax . The plastic bag charge has been successful because people have easily adapted to carrying reusable bags with them, but reusable coffee cups are bulkier and require cleaning.

Overall, a charge on disposable cups increased the use of re-usable coffee cups by 3.4 per cent, while environmental messaging in cafes increased the use of re-usable coffee cups by 2.3 per cent. The availability of re-usable cups led to an increase of 2.5 per cent and the distribution of free re-usable cups led to a further increase of 4.3 per cent.

And actually last year, the Liberal Democrats called for the introduction of a 5p charge on disposable coffee cups to cut usage. The party was also behind the introduction of plastic bag charge, which has cut the number of plastic bags used by over 85 per cent. Which is great and actually I beleive a tax placed on throw away coffee and tea cup seems like an effective solution!

The government has given short shrift to a suggestion by one minister that disposable coffee cups, like plastic bags, should be taxed to make us think twice before using them. There are “no plans” for such a tax, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. But with campaigners like Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall focusing the spotlight on the problem, pressure is mounting on retailers, consumers and the government to do something.

Some campaigners have pointed the finger at coffee chains, for misleadingly printing the three arrows recycling symbol on cups even though they are “virtually impossible” to recycle. But Peter Goodwin, co-founder of Simply Cups, a specialist paper cup recycler, says it is possible to recycle coffee cups - albeit only at two specialist facilities in the UK.

The problem has been, he says, that businesses simply haven’t believed it was worth doing, and consumers haven’t been much bothered about it either – until recently. “The technology is now there to strip the plastic lining off the cups, so they are now a viable thing to recycle,” Goodman says. “But more businesses need to see the value in turning waste into a resource, and so do consumers. This is a call to action now – the systems are in place to do something about this problem.

In my opinion, there should be a tax placed on throw away coffee or tea cups. Why? This type of trash is mostly not recycable and puts a great danger to the environment because it directly polutes it. Poluting the environment with paper cups should be avoided at all times and alternatives found in order to solve this issue.

Putting a tax may be temporary safe, but I think the right way is to teach and educate coffee drinkers to not choose to buy this type of product and then the market would collide on itself; without any sales, coffee shops would provide solutions and therefore solve this problem for everyone.