(Courtesy The Good Cup)
Many people pick up a takeaway cup of coffee in the morning. The design of the hot cup and plastic lid hasn’t changed much over the years. But now a new foldable coffee cup that doesn’t use a single-use lid is set to turn the packaging industry on its head.
This recyclable, compostable paper cup, called Good Cup, folds on top of itself to prevent spills while drinking coffee on the go, reported Fast Company. It wasn’t easy to get the design right, in fact, it took years to perfect.
“It took me about three years and about 1,000 handmade samples to really tweak the paper and the folding,” designer Cyril Drouet, co-founder of the Hong Kong-based sustainable packaging startup ChoosePlanetA, told Fast Company.
The result is a foldable box that looks more like a Chinese takeout container than a coffee cup. The Good Cup has flaps that lockdown to form a slightly curved top that locks in place. The cup cannot accidently open or come off like those with flimsy plastic lids. But it does take a little time to get used to using it, Drouet said.
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Why Create a Foldable Cup?
Every year, the world uses 300 billion disposable cups and 200 billion plastic single use lids, according to a media presentation from ChoosePlanetA. Thes coffee lids are not recyclable and most end up in landfills to the tune of 700 million kg a year. That’s why so many countries are banning the use of these types of plastics.
Drouet, a packaging designer, saw that there was a need to create a replacement so he decided to create one himself, according to Fast Company. New Cup eliminates the need for lids and unlike regular takeout cups that are plastic lined, the new eco-friendly cup is certified recyclable and compostable.
“We really wanted to maximize the end of life, because paper can be recycled up to seven times,” he told Fast Company. “So, in our opinion, it doesn’t make sense to have a cup going to compost when it can be recycled.”
(Courtesy The Good Cup)
Single-Use Plastic Bans
The Good Cup couldn’t have been developed at a better time as countries around the globe are banning single-use plastics. In January, 2023, France implemented a law that was passed in 2020 to phase out single use items. One of the key components of the anti-waste law is a ban on single use items that include takeout coffee cups and lids.
Canada has passed legislation that will be fully implemented by the end of 2023, reported The Intelligencer. Although there is still time to phase out items like coffee cups and lids, many stores, fast food outlets and manufacturers have already made the switch.
These plastic bans make a sustainable solution like the Good Cup even more attractive even if the product is more expensive than regular cups and lids. “It’s almost impossible to compete with plastic, one of the cheapest materials in the world,” Drouet told Fast Company “But what is helping us is that if you look around the world, there are now a lot of regulations from governments.”
While the product is currently being used in Japan, Hong Kong, and the UK, a company spokesman told Goodnet.. Plus the cups are being trialed in Australia and New Zealand. The company has plans to expand and to license local manufactures so that the cups do not have to be shipped overseas. One of the first countries is not surprisingly Canada.
While it may take some time to get used to a foldable coffee box instead of a conventional cup, this new innovation could become the latest trend in takeaway hot beverages.
(Courtesy The Good Cup)
