Alberta considers green tax on takeout coffee cups
Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner raised the prospect Wednesday of charging coffee drinkers a small deposit on disposable cups in a bid to keep litter from blowing down the province's streets.
Speaking at a rural municipalities conference in Edmonton, Renner said "there seems to be no shortage of coffee and drink cups around.
"Some have suggested that some form of deposit might be something that we should pursue."
Renner said measures would not be the same as the system for bottle recycling, where the containers are registered and consumers pay a deposit up front.
"That would be far too administratively cumbersome," the environment minister said.
"That's not to say we shouldn't look at ways we could perhaps encourage and incent people to discard their cups less frequently or, as the alternative, create some incentive for people to pick up the ones that are carelessly discarded. I think it's worth pursuing. I don't know how realistic it would be, but one never knows until you look."
But it might be a tall order, as the plastic-coated cups that keep hot beverages from leaking are difficult to recycle.
Paula Magdich, the City of Calgary's program director for recycling, said the blue cart program doesn't currently accept disposable paper or Styrofoam cups.
"Drinking cups are tricky," Magdich explained.
Some are recyclable in the city, she said. But most are not.
Travel agency manager and busy mom Jennifer Hodgins said nine times out of 10, she uses a travel mug when she buys a hot beverage. But outside of the Bridgeland Starbucks on Wednesday, she said she forgot her reusable container in a rush to take her son and his friend tobogganing.
"I'm actually all for it. You can't put this in recycling," Hodgins said of the minister's idea while holding up her disposable cup.
Recycling Council of Alberta executive director Christina Seidel said the goal is to stop using single-use cups in the first place.
"It's kind of like the plastic bag issue," she said. Both plastic bags and disposable cups "are all things that are unnecessary. That's the point."
Seidel added coffee companies lead the way when it comes to reducing disposable cup use. For instance, at both Starbucks and Tim Hortons, customers get 10 cents off their drink when they bring their own tumbler.
She said the Alberta government -- once a leader -- is falling behind when it comes to diverting waste from landfills, in general. For instance, it hasn't moved on recycling construction and demolition waste.
"It's sort of like we stagnated." Last year, Toronto delayed a controversial ban on disposable coffee cups. Before Toronto council decided to hold off on forbidding the cups and lids, major coffee chains vigorously opposed the scheme.
Tim Hortons Inc. corporate affairs senior vice-president Nick Javor said the company is still against any kind of cup tax or surcharge.
"Customers have told us that they want great coffee at a competitive price," Javor said in an e-mail.
"Collecting cups at our stores for a deposit return would have its challenges as we could not handle all these cups in store due to health and sanitary issues, of course. Our approach is to encourage our customers to consider alternatives and to reduce, reuse and recycle whenever possible."
Javor added the company plans to expand an in-store cup recycling and composting program, now at some stores out East, to Alberta.
Wildrose Alliance MLA Guy Boutilier, a former environment minister in the Klein government, said he doesn't favour placing a deposit on coffee cups and other paper beverage containers. He said the government should instead focus on making it easier for Albertans to recycle bottles, cans and cups.
"There is a lost opportunity within gas stations right now," Boutilier noted. "I'm more inclined to think of how do we have (Albertans) learn the habit of recycling when they fill up the car."
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