ÖKCUP – sustainable “coffee to go” cup   

The new unbound eco cup

Why a deposit cup system?

We all know the pictures of overfilled garbage bins, especially in highly frequented places or at events. Disposable cups are very often the reason for this. Around 300 million disposable cups are used in Austria. However, disposing of the cups poses difficulties: the thin layer of plastic inside the to-go cup makes it hardly possible to recycle the cups. In addition, the cup is very short-lived: a coffee enjoyment for 10 minutes - but the environmental impact lasts forever.

We at unbound are also familiar with this problem; in the past, at events with our coffee wheel, we have filled hundreds of disposable cups with sustainable and traceable coffee. In addition, especially during the pandemic, our customers in the catering industry have increasingly requested our to-go cups from us. However, the spread of environmentally harmful materials does not fit our attitude at all.

The solution: unbound-Ökocup  

I and our unbound team therefore set out to find a solution and improve the situation. So we created the unbound Ecocup with a cool design. The reusable cup from Ökocup (produced in Berlin) is issued for a deposit of €1 and can be returned to all participating companies. With our deposit cup system, we not only want to avoid mountains of garbage, but also reduce the circulation of plastic and composite materials.

We hope that numerous companies will take part so that it becomes even easier for consumers to return the cup everywhere - so we are trying to replace the disposable cup in the long term.

Where is the unbound Ecocup?

At the moment the unbound Ecocup can can be picked up and returned from our roastery, in our new cafe “FLOS Coffee and Bagels” in Hall (open from August) and throughout the Alpine Zoo in Innsbruck.

What resources are needed annually for the production of disposable cups?

-       approx. 34 million kWh of energy (equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of more than 9,000 households)

-       160 million liters of water (corresponds to the annual water consumption of around 3,350 Austrians)

-       Wood from more than 4,500 trees