Sustainable coffee-to-go: Irish start-up Butterfly Cup shortlisted in the NextGen Cup Challenge

25 Feb 2019 --- The NextGen Cup Challenge, launched in October 2018, calls on innovators, start-ups, suppliers and industry experts to join a global challenge to develop the next generation of recyclable, compostable, to-go, fiber cups. The winners of the challenge will be announced this coming Thursday, the 28th and PackagingInsights speaks to one of the shortlisted companies: Irish start-up, Butterfly Cup.

The cup challenge is the first initiative of the NextGen Consortium, which is a multi-year, multi-industry global consortium that aims to advance the design, commercialization and recovery of food packaging alternatives. Both the Consortium and Challenge are managed by Closed Loop Partners, with Starbucks and McDonald’s as Founding Partners, The World Wildlife Fund (WFF) as an Advisory Partner, The Coca-Cola Company and Yum! Brands as Supporting Partners and Nestlé also joining as a Supporting Partner.

As the vast number of disposable coffee cups ending up in landfill – 99 percent according to some estimates – attracted notable public attention in the past year, the industry has set its sights on sourcing an alternative. Up to six winners will be announced on Thursday, receiving US$1 million in funding to help advance their idea through the supply chain.

The coffee cup problem
The crux of the problem with disposable coffee cups is that although they are technically recyclable, the polyethylene (PE) plastic film that protects the paperboard from liquid needs to be recycled separately. Even in more recent generations of coffee cups where the plastic films have been replaced with a bio-based alternative, the recycling process is still complex and hinders sustainable progress.Tommy McLoughlin, Founder & CEO at Butterfly Cup.

“In order to recycle them, they have to be segregated and put through a special process, where they are channeled into a separate facility. The cups are shredded and soaked in water and the paperboard and plastic are separated,” Tommy McLoughlin, Founder & CEO at Butterfly Cup, tells PackagingInsights.

The Butterfly Cup, on the other hand, is the “world’s first” 100 percent plastic-free and fully recyclable all-in-one coffee cup. As a start-up, the company launched its commercial product 14 months ago and is currently supplier to three cup manufacturers, with three more in the pipeline. This is across ten countries including Germany, Japan, the US, UK and South Africa.

“The environmental benefits of the Butterfly Cup are threefold. It eliminates the need for a plastic lid and straw, it's completely plastic free and it's easy to recycle. The important thing here is how easy it is to recycle. Most coffee cups can technically be recycled, but the vast majority end up in landfill,” McLoughlin explains.

The ease of recycling comes from the cup’s plastic-free status, made possible through Finnish paper mill Kotkamills’ “game-changing” technology: ISLA Duo cups.

The barrier layer in ISLA Duo products is a water-based dispersion coating instead of PE plastic. Being plastic-free enables the products to be easily recyclable in normal paper and board recycling streams and the wood fiber can be reused fully. The product also doesn’t contain any waxes harmful for the health nor do they accumulate in nature – as plastic does.

“Even if improperly disposed of in the countryside or water, Butterfly Cup will biodegrade naturally as quickly as raw paper, whereas a plastic-coated cup (plus the plastic lid and straws) will take decades or longer to disappear fully.”

“It has completely transformed the industry,” says McLoughlin. “Traditionally, paperboard has three layers. This one has been adapted so that it has five layers and in between the layers there is water based dispersion coating which makes the paperboard waterproof without a laminate.”

“Many of the world’s major beverage retail brands have expressed strong interest in Butterfly Cup, which is being regarded by many industry experts as the answer to a problem that has perplexed the beverage industry for 20 years,” he notes.

Disposable coffee cups have also caught the attention of huge foodservice players. Both McDonald’s and Starbucks have committed to introducing plastic-free paper cups by 2020, while KFC has announced a global pledge to eliminate non-recoverable single-use plastic-based packaging by 2025.

McDonald’s committed US$5 million in partnership with Closed Loop Partners to help launch the NextGen Cup Consortium and Challenge last year, bringing the total funds dedicated to the Challenge to US$10 million.

Last week, Nestlé announced that it would also be joining forces with other industry partners to build a fully recyclable, compostable fiber cup as part of the NextGen Consortium and Cup Challenge.

“Solving the issue of plastic waste requires collaboration among many different stakeholders. We are excited to join the NextGen Consortium and Cup Challenge as it brings together start-ups, industry partners and suppliers to find an industry-wide, global packaging solution for sustainable to-go cups,” says Stefan Palzer, Nestlé Chief Technology Officer.

By Laxmi Haigh