Minister eyes reusable cup wash stations
CSNA highlights plans for reusable cup washing stations as government explores a latte levy and waste reduction measures
Print10 June 2026
The Minister with responsibility for the circular economy has said he is working to roll out ‘washing stations’ in garages and large coffee chains as part of efforts to encourage more people to use reusable cups.
Minister of State Alan Dillon said he has instructed his officials to look at rolling out a pilot scheme.
He said the move will be made in tandem with other measures to reduce the use of single-use coffee cups, including the rollout of the long-promised “latte levy”.
“We’ve looked at how we actually introduce this and how we can engage with retail and forecourt operators, such as Circle K or many other chain operators – the Costas, the Insomnias, etc, – to try and implement that infrastructure,” the Mayo TD said.
Single-use cups tax
However, Dillon would not give a timeline on when the washing stations or the tax on single-use cups would be up and running.
Coffee cups are among the most prevalent forms of litter in Ireland, with the government’s own circular economy strategy (published earlier this year) stating that roughly 22,000 disposable takeaway cups are discarded every hour in Ireland, the CSNA stated.
That adds up to over 500,000 cups a day or 200 million cups annually, with most ending up in landfill, incineration or as coastal litter where they break down into microplastics.
Despite the most recent strategy from the government committing to tackle the issue, progress to date has been slow, and the pledge to tax single-use cups was even dropped from the 2024 programme for government.
Meanwhile, in April, the European Commission sent the government a letter of formal notice over its failure to transpose a number of elements of the single-use plastics directive.
On the “latte levy”, which the government initially promised to introduce in 2020, Dillon told The Journal that a regulatory assessment on how it would be implemented is currently ongoing and that the government is still looking at it as a “longer-term solution”.
The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment said last month that it is considering the option of an upstream levy on producers and importers of disposable cups, rather than at the point of sale to consumers.
Dillon said he favours option number two: a tax at the point of sale.
“I think if we were looking at a point of sale where consumers actually feel the impact of a levy at the till, that certainly would be more transparent,” he said.
He added, however, that a tax on cups cannot be the only solution and that people need to be encouraged to use their own reusable cups, with “widespread infrastructure available” for cleaning.
Pushed on a timeline for the introduction of the levy, Dillon said: “I think what’s important is to get it right.
“I don’t think it’s as simple as introducing what we did previously for the plastic bag, and this needs to be thought through. It’s very difficult.”
He said coffee has become a “very expensive pastime” for people now, and any scheme will have to be rolled out in a way that is actually effective rather than just raising prices further.
Read more: CSNA calls for poor box reform
© 2026, ShelfLife by CSNA
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