04/11/2021
It’s a well-known fact that we are a nation of coffee lovers. According to the British Coffee Association, approximately 95 million cups of coffee are drunk in the UK each day. A short walk along any British high street will no doubt take you past several bustling coffee shops, most of which will also be doing a roaring trade in takeaway coffee. But unfortunately, our caffeine addiction has a huge environmental impact. We have been looking into the environmental costs of our coffee habits and how innovation is coming to the rescue.
It’s probably not too controversial to say that disposable coffee cups are a big problem. In the UK alone, we throw away a staggering 2.5 billion of them every year. The majority of coffee cups are still made from virgin materials rather than recycled paper, which equals a lot of trees being cut down. In addition, only a tiny fraction of the cups we use are being recycled. Whilst traditional paper coffee cups are, in theory, recyclable, they cannot be recycled in regular recycling collection schemes and need to be separately collected and sent to a specialist recycling centre. This is because whilst coffee cups may look like they are made from paper, they are in fact typically lined with a thin plastic layer. During recycling, this layer needs to be removed so that the plastic and paper can be recycled separately. And let’s not forget the accompanying plastic lids, which seem to have so far escaped the single-use plastics ban…
A couple of years ago, there seemed to be a general movement towards using reusable cups and several coffee shop chains were offering a reduction in the price of a coffee for customers who used their own cup. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic seems to have hampered the rise of the reusable cup and we have been forced back into using disposable paper cups. Clearly, whilst we can attempt to make efforts to reduce the usage of disposable cups, the cups themselves need to be made more environmentally friendly.
Enter the ButterflyCup, which has been dubbed as “the world’s most environmentally friendly cup” and is already finding its way into international food and drink chains. The ButterflyCup is 100% paper and so can be recycled in a regular paper bin along with ordinary paper and cardboard, or can be composted at home, or in a food waste bin. The unique ‘horned’ design of the cup means that no separate plastic lid is needed.
The patent applications* that have been filed for the innovative ButterflyCup design describe the arrangement of flaps and creases that enable the top of the cup to be folded and closed together in two simple folds, once the cup has been filled. In the closed position, the flaps provide a seal that prevents leakage and splashing, whilst also forming a sort of spout that the consumer can drink through.
Other innovations seeking to reduce disposable cup waste have sought to replace the plastic inner layer with more sustainable alternatives. For example, last year saw international coffee chain Starbucks team up with NextGen Cup Challenge to trial sustainable cups lined with a biodegradable polymer, polybutylene succinate (BioPBS), which makes the cup compostable and recyclable. The NextGen Challenge began in 2018 for the very purpose of finding innovative solutions for single use cups.
British based company Biome Bioplastics have been developing ‘world-first’ bioplastic materials based on plant starches and tree by-products such as cellulose, for producing disposable cups and lids that are recyclable or disposable as food waste. One of their products, BiomeEasyFlow is a starch based coating that can be used inside drink cups or other cardboard food containers, in place of a polyethylene layer.
And as a final example of creative, sustainable innovation, we have to mention Circular&Co who are taking used single use coffee cups and making them into….. coffee cups! But this time of the reusable variety, which can be used for years to come. The rCUP, the world’s first reusable coffee cup made from recycled paper coffee cups was the brainchild of former Dyson designer and inventor, Dan Dicker. Each rCUP is made from six single use plastic cups. The used cups are collected, cleaned, shredded and then blended with a recycled polymer (typically from plastic lids) to form a strong resin material that is used to form the rCUP.
At Reddie & Grose LLP we are strong supporters of sustainable innovations. It is crucial that innovators of game changing inventions such as those discussed above seek the right IP protection for their innovations so that the motivation to keep looking for solutions to the world’s environmental problems remains. If you would like to discuss your own innovation, please do get in touch with one of our team.
* e.g. WO 2020/030683 in the name of Hanpak
This article is for general information only. Its content is not a statement of the law on any subject and does not constitute advice. Please contact Reddie & Grose LLP for advice before taking any action in reliance on it.
