Where to get your morning coffee in a biodegradable eco-cup in London

Because your takeaway latte doesn't have to cost the earth...
Lucy J Photography
Frankie McCoy17 March 2016

Eco-warriors beware: turns out that your beloved organic, small-batch, single-origin, sustainably sourced long black isn’t saving the planet. Because takeaway coffee cups are plastic-coated inside to stop them dissolving into a brown, squidgy pulp, they can’t be treated like cardboard, so fewer than one in 400 paper cups from chains end up being recycled.

Leaves a bitter taste, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be a toss-up between eco-pocalypse and your commuting cappuccino: the Belgians, for one, have the green goods. Le Pain Quotidien insists its cups are “100 per cent compostable and 100 per cent recyclable”, with inner linings made from biodegradable plant starch, not plastic. Its cups aren’t Forest Stewardship Council-certified, but Le Pain insists they could be.

If you want something more independent, head to Caravan in King’s Cross and Exmouth Market, where takeaway cups are single-walled and made from sustainable forest paper, and where Caravan Coffee Roasters’ head of operations Mike Logue is feverishly pushing Uppercup’s über-hip reusable cups on customers.

Then there’s the Department of Coffee and Social Affairs, which now has 10 outlets across central and east London. Yes, there might be paperwork in their takeaway cups, but that’s all there is: they’re not lined with plastic. CEO Ashley Lopez insists that they want to be “eco champions” and plans to roll out a range of reusable “Keep Cups”.

The best way to get customers to remember their reusable coffee cups is to draw them in with a discount. Starbucks has deflected criticism of the tiny amount of recycled cups by pointing to the 25p customers save on coffee if they bring their own flask. Surprisingly few of London’s indie coffee shops, who so proudly tout their ethical credentials, offer anything similar.

The best coffee grinders - in pictures

1/5

One bizarre exception is Kentish Town halal restaurant Bintang, which devotes a page of its website to infographics on the damage done by disposable packaging and encourages customers to bring their own receptacle with the promise of a 10 per cent discount.

Obviously, this only works if you’re the sort of zealous list-maker who packs their bag the night before. For everyone else whose last three reusables are in the sink, overflowing with mould, a fully compostable vessel is a better bet.

You could probably fertilise your garden yourself after dining at “rawcentric” vegetarian restaurant Wild Food Café in Covent Garden. But you can also do it with their cups: they only use biodegradable ones from London Bio Packaging, which they insist are “recyclable — and they disintegrate anyway in the rubbish”. Elsewhere, eco-packaging company Biopac provide cafés with fully compostable cups that break down in 12 weeks: look out for their “I’m a Green Cup” at festivals.

You see, green bean addicts? Your cup runneth over with takeaways that don’t cost the earth — merely the best part of a fiver.

Follow Frankie McCoy on Twitter: @franklymccoy

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in