Edible coffee cups are a new green innovation being trailed by Air New Zealand; a leading national airline. The Cups made from vanilla flavoured biscotti are made by a local New Zealand company Twiice. When first hearing about this trial my first thought was no one wants a leaky coffee cup! Imagine sat minding your own business and before you could finish your coffee the biscotti gives way and hot frothy coffee leaks all over your lap staining your clothes and making you uncomfortable for the rest of your flight! However after further research I have been informed these cups are apparently ‘leak proof’.
Numbers Don’t Lie
Statistics show that 99.75% of coffee cups are not recycled, the UK alone are estimated to throw away 2.5 billion coffee cups away each year and only 0.25% are recycled. Air New Zealand are responsible for serving more than 8 million cups of coffee a year and said that they want to reduce the amount of waste that the company sends to landfills. This is just a small step on a large scale global issue. Many people have said that a change in cups is not a big enough environmental commitment for a company that size to make however in a statement released by Air New Zealand said that these new cups was being trailed both on the ground and in the air and was a small step into finding new innovative ways to meet sustainability challenges.
The cups have been a big hit so far with customers and they have also used the cups to serve desserts in rather than plastic dessert bowls. The cups are said to have a really good impact on the environment especially if it catches on to other companies around the world. The switch is from compostable cups made of paper and corn that is used in most of Air New Zealand’s lounges and aeroplanes, these cups are environmentally friendly however still fill up the landfill sites and take years to decompose. The plant based bio degradable cups have still been made available for consumers that may have a food allergy as the cups may contain traces of nuts, dairy and eggs.
Edible Coffee Cups Saving Reputations
Air companies and travel companies come under a lot of scrutiny when it comes to the environment. Flights produce a lot of greenhouse gases from burning fuel which contributes largely to the world’s global warning issue when the fuel is released into the atmosphere.
All companies no matter how big or small can take steps to help reduce their carbon footprint… if these new edible coffee cups literally take off and become popular than we may have to look into them for our coffee cart events.
