Compostable coffee cups causing FOGO confusion as WA transitions to plastic

As Western Australia moves closer to a ban on plastic-lined disposable coffee cups, many retailers are already making the switch to compostable varieties.

But the change has caused confusion for consumers about how to correctly dispose of their cups, which environmentalists say could be eased if there was more consistent labelling on compostable packaging.

Sixteen councils across WA have transitioned to a three-bin system with a food organic, garden organic (FOGO) bin collecting their food scraps and green waste.

The contents of the bin are sent to an industrial composting facility.

But Bree Jennings from Plastic Free WA, the group tasked with helping retailers transition to the WA government's plastic ban, says we should hold off from throwing that compostable coffee cup into the compost.

"We don't know at this point who's made that cup," she says.

"[The cup's lining] can be made of standard plastic … it can also be made from bioplastic."

To avoid confusion, she recommends all cups go in a landfill bin.

Sure, but some environmentalists say that claim isn't worth much.

"There are no rules and standards to tell consumers what is a reusable, compostable, or recyclable package," Toby Hutcheon from the Boomerang Alliance says.

"We need a standard so the consumer knows that the product that they are buying is actually compostable and not simply claimed to be compostable."

In Australia, there are two certifications for items that will break down in either a home compost or industrial compost.

Both can be identified by a label and seedling logo that some companies place on their products.

But it is a voluntary system run by the Australasian Bioplastics Association.

"It's virtually impossible to tell the difference nowadays between a recyclable coffee cup and a compostable one," Mr Hutcheon says.

"It takes a trained eye."

He's calling for the federal government to lead the charge on labelling.

Eventually, yes.

But Elsa Dominish from the Institute of Sustainable Futures says putting a compostable item in landfill has no environmental benefit.

"If those products are placed into landfill then they don't have the right conditions to biodegrade so they would decompose slowly and, in that process, they would actually release methane, which is a greenhouse gas," she says.

"It's probably a worse outcome than using a conventional [disposable] coffee cup."

Ms Jennings warns against a chuck-it-and-hope approach.

Placing the wrong items in any bin causes contamination, which can cause a headache for facilities trying to sell their FOGO compost.

"If we encourage this huge volume of these cups going into our FOGO system, we don't know what the outcome is going to be," she says.

She says residents should check with their local council to see what items they accept in each bin.

The WA government says it is also looking at the issue as it heads towards its plastic coffee cup ban in March next year.

"The state government is working with composters and local governments to identify how certain compostable materials, such as coffee cups, could be viably recovered through FOGO collection systems," a spokesperson for the WA Department of Water and Environment Regulation says.

With more than 181 million disposable coffee cups used in WA each year, Ms Jennings says the answer to our compostable cup problem is to simply not use one.

"Let's avoid using it at all," she says.

"Let's dine in; let's use reusable."

Browse for your location and find more local ABC News and information