Parliament told to put 'house in order' after it emerges Commons bought more than a million disposable coffee cups and lids in last year alone

Catering service buys 500 reusable 'keep cups', but only sells four of them

More than a million disposable coffee cups and lids were used by the House of Commons last year - equivalent to 1,500 per MP - it has been revealed.

Plastic straws, stirrers, condiment sachets, plastic cutlery, disposable water bottles and coffee cups were all bought in vast quantities across the Palace of Westminster, a Freedom of Information request by environmental charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) showed.

Despite the Government’s launch of a 25-year environmental plan with a focus on tackling plastic waste, data showed the Houses of Parliament purchased more than two million single-use plastic items in 2017, including 200,000 soft drink bottles.

Labour MP Kerry McCarthy said it was time for Parliament to get its “house in order” and take a lead on the national issue of throwaway plastic.

“The recent series of Blue Planet II has brought to public attention the serious damage plastic is causing to our marine life and habitats,” she said. “Pressure is rightly growing on all of us to take action to reduce our plastic footprint.”

A separate investigation by the Liberal Democrats revealed the Commons used almost 4 million disposable coffee cups over the past five years. It showed the chamber’s catering service bought 500 reusable “keep cups” in 2013, but only four of them had been sold by 2017.

A House of Commons spokesperson told The Independent it was “committed to reducing the amount of waste across the parliamentary estate” and that it operated a mixed recycling scheme “to ensure as much as possible of our waste is recycled”.

"The House Service is currently reviewing the sustainability and environmental management of single use disposable plastics in the House of Commons," he added.

The UK currently uses seven million disposable coffee cups every day. Though often considered recyclable, paper coffee cups are lined with a layer of plastic that makes them impossible to process in normal recycling facilities. It means the vast majority of coffee cups end up being incinerated or sent to landfill.

A breakdown of single-use plastic items bought by the Houses of Parliament in 2017 (Surfers Against Sewage)

The Independent has launched its Cut the Cup Waste campaign to help tackle the problem.

Hugo Tagholm, SAS chief executive, said: “The engine to drive the war on plastic waste is in the Palace of Westminster where our elected politicians can pass progressive new legislation to decouple society from its addiction to avoidable, single-use plastics.

“They must also set an example in refusing avoidable plastics, and send a strong message to the world.”

Following an investigation, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee called for the Government to introduce a 25p “latte levy” on disposable coffee cups.

They said the estimated three billion coffee cups thrown away in the UK each year should all be recycled by 2023. Failing that, they should be banned outright, the committee said.