A German company named “Kaffeeform” and a man called Julian Lechner are using the old coffee grounds from cafes and restaurants, to create reusable coffee cups and saucers.
Obviously if you just use old coffee grounds then you can’t make a cup out of them so here is how the cups and saucers are made. The coffee grounds are mixed with natural glues and wood grains (which are taken from a sustainable source) to make a liquid composite, which can then be injected into moulds to make the coffee cups and saucers. The end product is so tough that it can be used with any hot coffee, as well as being popped in the dishwasher.
This is an extremely resourceful way of using what is essentially a waste product of the worlds most loved drink and developing it into something reusable. As with all innovations, the cups have had a few problems but only in terms of cost. Due to all the products and processes used to create the cups and saucers it makes the product very expensive compared to its rivals. So expensive in fact that for just one cup and saucer it will cost you £17.25. Perhaps a costly investment to most businesses.
So the question becomes; should innovation and ethos outweigh cost?