In a great example of circular economy thinking, the first reusable coffee cup to enable contactless payments comes packaged in a folding carton made from recycled takeaway cups.

Costa Coffee’s ‘Clever Cup’, which is powered by Barclaycard contactless payment technology, is a shining example of circular economy. Creating value from the coffee chain’s own waste stream by recycling its takeaway cups. In fact, each box contains waste fibre from one ‘medio’ sized cup.

James Cropper has been working with Costa on recovering and recycling its takeaway coffee cups since the launch of CupCyclingTM in September 2017. The project to develop Clever Cup’s packaging is a perfect example of what can be produced from cup fibres processed through the world’s first ever facility dedicated to transforming cups into fine papers and sustainable packaging.

The launch forms part of Costa Coffee’s wider re-launch of its ‘next generation’ reusable cup range, giving customers the option to use reusable cups over single use takeaway cups.

James Cropper packages up example of circular economy best practice

Richard Burnett, market sector manager from James Cropper said:

“This is a really exciting step for Costa who have brought about the marriage of technology and sustainability, of convenience and environmental responsibility. They are one of the leading lights on the high street in addressing the issue of disposable coffee cups, setting an example for others in the coffee business.

To date, we have recycled 30 million coffee cups at our world-first CupCycling facility. However, we actually have the capacity to convert 500 million per year into papers for packaging in all colours for anyone wanting to follow in Costa’s foot-steps.”

Jason Cotta, Managing Director at Costa Coffee comments:

“Whilst we are committed to ensuring more takeaway coffee cups are recovered and recycled we also want to incentivise and reward customers who help reduce the number of takeaway cups being wasted, and hope the innovative Clever Cup will become an additional incentive for increasing the use of reusable cups.”

The Clever Cup will be available from all Costa outlets late November 2018, priced at £14.99, with a £1 donation from every sale going to The Costa Foundation.

It features a silicone base and contactless chip, which is detachable for ease of washing. The payments technology is made possible by Bpay from Barclays. Users can top up their balance and track payments via their phones.

James Cropper’s award-winning CupCycling facility has been praised for its ground-breaking approach to solving the waste coffee cup issue, the company is also renowned for creating custom coloured papers and moulded fibre products for packaging.