Some independent Montreal coffee shops could start charging a bit more – unless you bring your own mug for your morning cup of joe.
The idea comes from Olivia St. Laurent, a McGill student studying environmental studies. St-Laurent convinced the owner of Café Paquebot to consider a $0.25 tax on coffee cups and putting the money towards environmental research.
“We want businesses to be taking responsibility for their ecological footprint and we want customers also to realize that their lifestyle choices have an impact,” she said.
A La Presse report from last month said Montreal landfills were full of recyclable materials such as drink bottles, cans and paper coffee cups.
“We would like to put pressure on the bigger corporations like Starbucks, Tim Horton’s, McDonald’s, to eventually reduce or change their practices,” said St. Laurent.
Earlier this year, the United Kingdom considered a similar measure of taxing paper coffee cups by 25 pence.
The owners of several independent cafes have planned a meeting for this coming week to discuss adopting the initiative in more shops.
