UK – Tech-enabled reusable food and drink packaging solution start-up Cauli has unveiled what it describes as the ‘next phase of the reuse revolution with the launch of its fully reusable and recyclable CauliCups, a replacement for conventional single-use coffee cups.
Manufactured sustainably in the Czech Republic, the cups are injection molded and made from 100% polypropylene, which is a fully recyclable material.
The startup said the cups can be reused 400 times before being returned to manufacturers to be recycled into new products.
Following the successful implementation of their reusable CauliBox lunchboxes, Cauli’s partners asked it to provide a solution for reusable coffee cups, noting these to be a key area of waste.
Available in 10oz and 12oz sizes, with 16oz cups in the pipeline for the future, the startup revealed it has already received initial orders have come from Barts Health, NHS Trust, and a number of banks in Canary Wharf.
Cauli noted that while conventional coffee cups can be returned to be recycled at some high street coffee chains, 99.75% of coffee cups in the UK are not currently recycled.
This means that as a nation, Britain throws away around 2.5bn single-use coffee cups annually, that is where Caulis’s mission to help build a circular economy to tackle the 11 billion pieces of food packaging waste that are generated in the UK every year, came in.
Cauli co-founder and CEO Josephine Liang said “Cauli’s mission is to make sustainable dining as accessible as possible. We are delighted to enable our catering partners to eliminate disposable coffee cups, one of the most difficult types of waste to recycle.”
I love caffeine as much as I love sustainability, and we are delighted to say our users do not have to choose between a hot cup of joe or the planet anymore.”
Using a closed-loop system, the containers are used, returned to the return points (CauliKiosks), washed, and repeatedly reused.
Once a CauliBox or CauliCup reaches the end of its life, Cauli arranges for its recycling. Alongside this, partners are provided with environmental impact statistics to help achieve their CSR goals, while users earn CauliCoins each time they use a CauliBox or CauliCup which can be collected and redeemed as sustainable discounts and rewards.
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