Mayor David Miller is strongly defending spending $50,000 on consultants to figure out what to do with takeout coffee cups.

One million cups are dispensed daily in Toronto, and the city spends big bucks picking up and disposing of them. Finding a better way could pay off, Miller said this week. The mayor is pinning his hopes on development of a paper lid to replace plastic lids, which would make the package more recyclable, and he believes the city can help bring that about through the work of a 40-member task force and by retaining experts on paper mills and recycling.

"The city has a role in pushing, because unfortunately some in the industry have just said, `We're not going to do anything,' and that's not sustainable in the long run," he said.

A U.S. company is developing a prototype paper lid, work that could be pursued in Canada to support the forest industry and manufacturing jobs here, he said.

"We're not going to be able to make coffee cup lids out of oil forever. Frankly what worries me is if we don't take the initiative to create those jobs here, they'll be created somewhere else," Miller said.

"Why don't we for once take the lead and create the new knowledge and technology here? I would hope industry (in Canada) would get on board with that."