While she says she is prepared for the change, Taylor is frustrated that single-use plastics still line supermarket shelves.

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“I think once again, the government has plopped it on small business to make them look good,” she said.

“‘Oh, we’re doing something environmental.’ No, you’re not. You’re making small business jump through hoops while big polluters, carbon polluters, plastic polluters continue doing whatever they like.”

She said the new lids, made from sugar cane, would also be jarring for customers used to plastic.

“Our first shipment has just arrived of sugar cane compostable lids, but they are nowhere near where they should be quality wise,” she said.

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Fines for flouting the WA bans are up to $5000 for an individual or $25,000 for a body corporate.

The Australian Retailers Association is sceptical that WA is ready for the ban.

“Industrial compostable facilities must be rapidly scaled in WA to suit the scale of the change, so that people paying the extra cost of their cup of coffee can feel confident that it will be composted to the right conditions, to avoid unintended environmental consequences,” he said.

“Without the infrastructure to support this ban, this waste may end up in landfill regardless.”

Australians use around 1.84 billion disposable coffee cups each year, most of which end up in landfill because it is so difficult to separate the plastic lining from the cardboard cup for recycling. Plastics, which are made of oil, degrade over time releasing planet-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Globally the fossil fuel industry is ramping up plastics production as governments seek to cut oil use in energy and transport. Western governments have sought to crack down on plastic after China introduced a ban on the importation of plastic waste in 2018.

According to analysis published in February by the Minderoo Foundation with the global energy research firm Wood McKenzie, the climate consultancy Carbon Trust and KPMG, single-use plastics now generate as much greenhouse gas emissions as the United Kingdom.

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