"...we are talking of 25p per cup, a not inconsiderable tax,"
It still won't stop people drinking it. If you have two a day five days a week it will cost you £32.50 instead of £30.00 (assuming £3 per cup). People shelling out thirty quid a week on coffee obviously have a bit of income to dispose of because there are far cheaper alternatives. That much extra over a week will not change people's habits significantly, if at all. It's politicians' stock answer to every problem, real or perceived. All they need to do is to ensure there are adequate measures in place to scoop the waste up and dump it somewhere where it will not cause too many problems. And that's where local authorities come in. The only function they perform of any use to the majority of council taxpayers is emptying the bins. For about the last thirty years they have made an increasingly unnecessary song-and-dance about this. We put the rubbish out (including the coffee cups) and they deal with it. That's how it should be and they are being paid handsomely to do so. But, like the police, who are dealing with fewer and fewer crimes, LAs want to deal with less and less rubbish. That's not how it should work with an ever-increasing population.