EBAU Question 3

UK environment department using 1,400 disposable coffee cups a day

More than 2.5m disposable cups have been purchased by the UK’s environment department for use in its restaurants and cafes over the past five years – equivalent to nearly 1,400 a day.

The Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesman, Tim Farron, said the revelation, obtained through a freedom of information request, showed Michael Gove “needs to get his own house in order” in light of his public pledges to tackle the growing scourge of plastic pollution.

The Lib Dems revealed that 516,000 disposable cups had been purchased by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) catering contractors in the last year alone, under two separate outsourced contracts for use in catering outlets across its sites. The figure was 589,700 in 2016 and 785,100 the previous year.

The catering contractors did not previously provide any reusable cups, but purchased 200 reusable cups on 31 October 2017.

Separate figures uncovered by the Lib Dems have revealed the House of Commons itself is also failing to get to grips with disposable cup waste, using almost 4m disposable cups in the past five years.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for the introduction of a 5p charge on disposable coffee cups in the budget, following the success of the plastic carrier bag charge which has reduced usage in England by 85% since it was introduced in October 2015.

Adapted from The Guardian

Question 3: Find words of phrases in the text that correspond to the words and definitions given.

a. One-use par 1

b. To pay for/ to buy par.1

c. To subcontract par 3

d. Record par. 3

e. To make available par.4

f. Unwanted par. 5

g. Financial plan par. 6

KEY

a. Disposable

b.Purchased to purchase

c. Outsourced

d. figure

e. Provide

f. Waste

g. Budget