Plant-based cups, plastic-free chocolate and wooden cutlery: the best new sustainable supplies on the market

Sustainability has never been more important, with all hospitality venues wanting to exceed environmental, social and governance targets while providing a quality service for customers.

Suppliers are aiming to help operators with their mission by offering sustainable products incorporating the circular economy that still meet quality standards and offer a profit margin.

This round-up of new environmentally-friendly supplies showcases the most innovative additions to the market.

Cups made from hospitality’s waste

Packaging producer eGreen has introduced the VeriGreen cups range, primarily sourced from recycled plant oil that has been used in the hospitality industry. VeriGreen is made from a mono material, making collection and recycling easier than paper cups, which use two materials that need to be separated. By using bio-based polypropylene rather than virgin fossil fuels, there is a 180% reduction in CO2 from cradle to gate, as calculated by a lifecycle assessment provided by the raw material supplier.

Price Case of 1,000 cups, from £98

Simple smartphone-based returnable cups system

Sustainable drinkware specialist Circular&Co has partnered with Danish food and drink tech start-up kleen hub to launch returnable cup system Tap&Reuse. A barista scans a QR code on the base of the cup at the point of purchase, and the customer taps their card on the card reader. When the cup is returned, another scan logs it and automatically wipes the future transaction from the customer’s payment method. Cups can be returned to one central bin or return point, with the ability to ‘mass scan’, count, register and return in one go. The cups can be washed and reused at least 1,000 times.

Price Initial investment, from £5,000 (transaction costs provided each time a returnable cup is used)