OUR STORY SO FAR
Back in 2012 we first heard that single-use cups weren’t recyclable. Despite what it said on them, it turned out to be a big, fat lie. That’s when we became determined to do something to help address this massive, unpublicised problem. And that precise problem? 300 billion single-use cups are made each year, with less than 2% being recycled.
It took us two years to perfect, but in 2014 Ecoffee Cup was born; created using a beautiful new material that no-one had seen before. In year-one, people liked our products, but didn’t understand the point of re-use. It wasn’t until 2016 that the environmental climate began to change, with consumers and media finally waking up to the appalling true cost of single-use items. The mind shift had begun.
Almost a decade on and things have come a long way – certainly in some senses. We’ve been in Vogue, on Love Island, in Forbes, in Parliament, on the cover of the Daily Mail, cloned, copied and called-out – and in 2019 we even made Oprah’s Favourites for Christmas. It’s been a big journey, that’s for sure, but have we achieved what we originally set out to do? Sadly, we haven’t come.
COVID has proven a massive step backwards for the re-use movement; lobbying by the plastics and single-use packaging industries has gone into overdrive, and government initiatives designed to curtail the growth of single-use seem to have all but disappeared. Not where we thought we would be on the eve of our second decade.
But with every set back comes resolution. We believe now is the time for doubling-down; now is the time to build on these important foundations; now is the time to push forward and make a real difference. And that is why we have evolved.
Today, we offer solutions for cafes and businesses wanting to replace single-use cups with practical, cost-effective, and attractive alternatives. We offer real consumer insight, logistics, inventory, and supply chain management – and soon, a wide array of different types of Ecoffee Cup to suit specific customer needs.
We’ve also put an end to operating in an echo-chamber. Our focus continues to be upon broadening our church (beyond the committed 3% of re-users) to a mainstream market of consumers, many yet to fully engage with the single-use issue.
The next few years are critical. Every decision, no matter how small, counts towards creating the tomorrow we all want. Together, we must translate words into actions and kick our single-use habits for good.
Together we must #choosetoreuse
#CHOOSETOREUSE
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”
William James
Each time you choose to re-use, even just once a week, you will be helping in the fight against single-use waste. Imagine if 2 million people choose to re-use just once a week, we would stop 104,000,000 single-use cups going to landfill each year.
Follow us @ecoffeecup_offcial and share your #choosetoreuse journey.
9 ALARMING FACTS
- Most single-use “paper” cups contain a polyurethane coating, making recycling difficult and rare. Less than 2% are recycled.
- Half a trillion single-use cups are made globally each year; over 70 for every person on the planet.
- Over 40% of plastic created annually is for single-use items.
- Four billion trees, or 35% of trees felled, are used for paper.
- Most single-use cups contain 0% recycled material.
- Most compostable single-use cups require a dedicated waste chain and commercial composting facilities. These either don’t exist or are at capacity. Most of these will end up in landfill.
- Globally, we consume nearly 300 million tonnes of paper each year; 70% from native forests, not plantations or recycling.
- Annual consumer waste has increased more than tenfold from 40kg in the 1950s, to 560kg of waste per person now.
- 10,000,000,000,000 single-use items are made each year.
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