A Recyclable Disposable Coffee Cup Has Been Created, And All It Took Was One Small Change

'The key is making it easy for people to do the right thing.'

Coffee drinkers of the world, rejoice. The world’s first easy-to-recycle disposable coffee cup could be hitting a coffee shop near you, very soon.

In the wake of the Government’s recommended Latte Levy, people have been taking steps to reduce coffee cup waste, with the sale of re-usable cups increasing by more than 500% in some shops over the last couple of months.

Frugalpac, a Suffolk-based company, is taking the eco-friendly approach to coffee drinking a step further, with the launch of the completely recyclable disposable Frugal Cup.

Martin Myerscough, founder and CEO of Frugalpac, is in talks with major coffee chains such as Starbucks to bring this sustainable alternative to the coffee drinking community.

“It’s taken a while but I think the public is finally ready to engage with the war on waste,” he told HuffPost UK.

“If we can stop the nonsense that drives the vast majority of this country’s 2.5 billion paper cups to landfill, we will begin to make a difference.”

Paddy & Scott's

The key environmental issue with the disposable coffee cups used by the majority of coffee chains is that they are made out of a mix of cardboard and plastic, and standard recycling facilities cannot separate the two materials to recycle them.

In comparison, the Frugal Cup is made from recycled cardboard that can be recycled at any UK paper recycling facility, with an additional waterproof plastic liner that is easily separated from the cup during the recycling process.

Martin is adamant that making this process smoother is the key to solving the waste issue.

“A takeaway cup is designed to be taken away, the clue’s in the name,” he said. “As a consumer, you’re not going to finish your drink and then walk half a mile just to throw the cup in a special bin. It won’t happen.

“The key is making it easy for people to do the right thing, and that’s what we’ve done with the Frugal Cup.”

The Frugal Cups are are currently being trialled at Sheffield University and independent coffee outlets such as Paddy & Scott’s in Suffolk and The Colombian Coffee Company at Borough Market in London.

They are now going into full production, so we can expect to see more of them from February onwards.

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