Replacing single-use plastic cups and cutlery with washable, re-usable or recyclable alternatives will be discussed by the political leaders of Worcestershire County council.

The Conservative-run cabinet will consider whether to replace single use plastic water cups with washable, reusable ones, to ask its caterers to use recyclable coffee-cups and to “encourage the use of alternative materials” for cups, bottles, cutlery and stars in all the council’s buildings and events.

The discussions centres on two motions passed at the last full council meeting in February.

The words “encourage the use of alternative materials’ was included in a Conservative amendment to a Labour motion which said the council should “vow to stop the use of” such items within a year.

Councillor Tony Miller, cabinet member responsible for the environment, said the council had already made some of the changes urged by the motions, but some changes may take longer.

The council’s caterers Servest offer discounts for people using reusable cups at County Hall and The Hive cafe offers free refills for those who bring their own re-usable cup.

He added: “It something we absolutely want to do – and we were already doing a lot of it, but we have a contract and it’s not always that easy to make those changes.

“There are other aspects as well, for example if you move over to biodegradable plastic cups, and there’s a cost difference from the petroleum-based plastic, then if one of the petroleum cups gets into a batch of the biodegradable ones it ruins it.

"I want the implications of decisions taken to be understood."

Cllr Miller added that in Worcestershire plastic waste is not land-filled but burnt at the waste-to-energy facility near Kidderminster.

Green councillor Matthew Jenkins, a sponsor of one of the motions, said: “Just ‘encouraging’ people doesn’t really make a difference. The environment is one of the council’s major responsibilities and they talk about it a lot, but I’d like to see action.”