QLD to Ban Disposable Coffee Cups and Lids

The QLD government has announced a five year roadmap to ban more harmful single-use plastics, including disposable coffee cups and lids. The announcement came following a survey result showing that 91% of Queenslanders supported further bans on single-use plastics. No surprise considering we now know that these plastics are harmful to our health, our wildlife, and our environment. 

Environment Minister, Meaghan Scanlon, made the announcement while kicking off “Plastic Free July”, including the following statement:

“Our roadmap will phase out other problematic single-use plastics over the next five years, including the aim to phase out disposable coffee cups and lids following work with other states and territories.  

“Of course, we will continue to work with retailers, community groups and suppliers so they have the alternative products in place.

“That’ll begin with getting to work straight away on replacements for coffee cups through an Innovation Challenge – with further details to be announced soon – to get Queensland businesses working on the alternatives we need.

“We understand these changes can have an impact on businesses and we will work with them to ensure they are ready.”

While it’s difficult to imagine anything can beat our current reusable coffee cups, we can’t wait to see what innovative alternatives to our current disposables come as a result of this initiative. 

Source: https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/95586