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Tea in styrofoam cups costs 75 fils

DUBAI — Although there is no blanket ban on plastic cups, the use of which was regulated by Dubai Municipality through a circular last month, cafeterias in the emirate have swapped plastic cups with styrofoam cups to serve the hot beverages.

This has resulted in an increase in the price of tea from 50 fils to 75 fils.

The residents in Dubai have slammed the increase as "another burden" on their household budget.

According to a number of cafeteria owners, they were forced to increase the price of tea having switched over to styrofoam cups.

They said the sale of the tea had not declined even after they increased the price. The public took the 25 fils increase in its stride because prices of everything in the UAE is on the rise, they added.

Cafeteria owners noted that although they were not clear on the use of plastic cups to serve hot beverages, they switched over to styrofoam cups to be on the safe side despite minimal increase in cost of the hot beverages.

Said Naseer, owner of Deira Star cafeteria, said: "We are facing problems with the increase in rent and operation costs and were anyway considering increasing the price of the most popular beverage among the people from the subcontinent. But, now under the new directives by the civic body which still remains unclear for most of us, we are left with no choice, but hiking the price of a cup of tea.”

Vinod, owner of another cafeteria, said: "We are using styrofoam cups instead of plastic cups to serve the hot beverages. We cannot sell tea for 50 fils specially now after having switched over to styrofoam cups. The switchover has made it difficult to meet our operational cost and we cannot continue selling the beverage at its old price of 50 fils.”

He lamented that the increase in price of tea may affect business. "Like in the past when cafeterias had hiked the price to 75 fils, people protested and we were forced to revert back to the old price. But, the residents should also understand our problems," he said.

Reeling under the pressure of the increasing costs, cafeteria owners have no option but to hike the price of tea. "Besides, the civic body's directive regulating the use of plastic cups to serve hot beverages, remains unclear for us. As a precautionary measure, we have replaced plastic cups with styrofoam cups forcing a hike in price of tea," Vinod pointed out.

Murali, a resident of Bur Dubai, said: "The increase in the price of tea is unfair. We are all struggling with the increasing cost of living in the emirate. The increase in price of tea will add an extra burden on us and for many of us who often called for tea from cafeteria, will end up reducing consumption of tea, one of the cheapest beverage across the world."

A number of residents said that attributing the increase in price of tea to the use of styrofoam cups is not entirely correct. Because, some cafeteria owner who serve tea in glass or steel glasses inside the cafeteria, have also started to charge 75 fils, they added.