To mark UK Coffee Week (Oct 19-25), coffee shops and tea rooms are being encouraged to help provide coffee growing communities with clean water, sanitation, and education by buying the world’s first cup made from recycled paper.
British sustainable packaging firm Frugalpac, who make the innovative Frugal Cup and recently launched the Frugal Bottle - the world’s first paper wine and spirits bottle - have partnered with leading water charity Project Waterfall to raise money and awareness by offering an exclusive Project Waterfall cup.
785 million people around the world don’t have access to clean water. The majority live in isolated, rural areas – the same areas growing coffee.
So for every box of Project Waterfall Frugal Cups purchased, £5 goes toward their work to bring clean drinking water and sanitation to coffee growing communities in Nicaragua, Tanzania, Rwanda, Vietnam, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. Since 2011, Project Waterfall has raised over £1 million and changed more than 50,000 lives
UK Coffee Week is the flagship fundraising campaign for Project Waterfall when the coffee industry and its customers come together to celebrate coffee, have fun, and raise money for those in need.
The Project Waterfall Frugal Cup is available in a specially curated blue charity design, which is easily customisable with a stamp but also showcases the cause supported. It is available in 8oz, 12oz and 16oz sizes.
The Frugal Cup is the world's only recyclable coffee cup made from 96% recycled paper.
An independent Life Cycle Analysis found that as well as having a carbon footprint up to 60% lower than conventional and compostable cups, the Frugal Cup uses 74% less water to make than other cups.
Rebecca Hodgson, Programme Manager at the Allegra Foundation charity which runs Project Waterfall said: “This UK Coffee Week, we’re asking all coffee shops across the country to buy our special Project Waterfall Cup.
“For every box of Project Waterfall Frugal Cups purchased, £5 goes towards our work to bring clean drinking water and sanitation to coffee growing communities. By ordering just five boxes, you could change one person's life for good.
“Since 2011, Project Waterfall has helped raise more than a £1m to help change the lives of more than 50,000 people and we’re looking to raise a further £1m by the end of 2021 so we can help even more.
“We’re really pleased to continue our partnership with Frugalpac as it helps us get our message out to coffee shops and consumers across the country and makes a real difference to our projects in places like Jabi Tehnan.
“By buying our Project Waterfall cups, you’re not only getting a sustainable paper cup, you’re helping to provide a sustainable source of clean water.”
Paul McReynolds, Head of Sales and Marketing at Frugalpac, said:
“When we buy our morning coffee, many of us will have no idea that some of the beans are harvested by people in communities that may not have access to clean water, sanitation or education.
“So, we’re proud to be helping Project Waterfall with their transformative campaign to help those who provide us with our daily caffeine fix.
“Our Project Waterfall Frugal Cup is made of recycled paper so people can choose the most sustainable and environmentally friendly paper cup, whilst also making a difference to the people who provide the coffee it holds.
“With a donation of 1p for every Project Waterfall Frugal Cup going directly to this cause, we’re encouraging coffee shops and tea rooms to be kinder to our planet and the coffee communities who need our support.”
Adrian Barratt-Smith owner of Grind & Tamp coffee shop in Ramsbottom - a Fairtrade Town – said: “We have been a supporter of Project Waterfall & UK Coffee Week for a few years now and wanted to support them again this year.
“We felt that the Frugal Cups met our company standards on ethics, due to the cups being fully recyclable and made from recycled paper. Using them in Grind & Tamp is a way of increasing awareness of Project Waterfall and raising funds for such a good cause. We believe everyone should have access to clean drinking water.”
More than 2.5 billion coffee cups are used every year in the UK, which require 1.45 billion litres of water to make. If they were all replaced with Frugal Cups, we could save just over one billion litres of water every year, the equivalent of 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The Frugal Cup was shortlisted as a finalist in Packaging Europe’s Sustainability Awards for Resource Efficiency and Frugalpac gave away 50,000 free cups to help independent coffee shops and tearooms struggling during the pandemic as well as donating cups to hospitals.
www.frugalpac.com
