Single-use coffee cups could be be ground out by 2026 as part of measures to reduce waste.
An outright ban on the cups, or a so-called 'latte levy', are just some of the initiatives in the Circular Economy Bill, which will go before the Dáil on Wednesday.
It will also pave the way for use of CCTV to detect and deter illegal dumping.
Mindy O'Brien is chief executive of VOICE - Voice of Irish Concerned for the Environment.
She told Newstalk Breakfast businesses will have to adapt to the change.
"It looks at how to reduce single-use items - such as cups and containers and packaging - and gives the Minister the ability to either pose a levy, or to ban them altogether.
"But I'm sure there'll be huge consultation before anything goes into effect.
"It also says the Minister would set reuse and repair targets by sector.
"What we want to look at instead of using things once and throwing them away, this Circular Economy says that we want to design products that we can use them over and over again.
"And that at the end of their lifetime, they can be recycled into new products".
'Plastic bag levy'
Mindy says levies on some items have worked before.
"Economic incentives have shown to affect behaviour change; we looked at the plastic bag levy - overnight, people started not using plastic bags.
"That's what we need to do is change the mindset, so that people say 'OK, I'm putting a value on something'.
"Either I can bring my own cup, or I can borrow a cup - so this will incentivise industry to adapt new ways of doing business".
And she says more could be done, taking examples from other EU countries.
"What they did in France is they said 20% of supermarkets has to be devoted to reuse and refill, to eliminate a lot of the packaging.
"We would have liked to see things like that.
"We would have liked to have seen a ban of PFAS, which are forever chemicals that are put in some of the compostable packaging."
