Life Cycle Assessment
THE REUSABLE CUP HAS A LOWER CARBON FOOTPRINT THAN THE DISPOSABLE CUP after just two uses
How much of a difference does it actually make to the climate whether a takeaway coffee is served in a disposable cup or in a cup that is collected, washed and reused?
This has been investigated in a comparative life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the New Loops reusable system compared with a conventional single-use system.
Result
61 % lower carbon footprint
New Loop
18.3 kg CO₂e
Single-use system
46.7 kg CO₂e
Savings
28.4 kg CO₂e
The system’s life cycle
It’s the system that makes the difference.
The LCA does not just compare two different cups – it compares two different ways of delivering the same takeaway meal.
The New Loop system encompasses production, transport, returns, washing and recycling. This means that the carbon footprint from production is spread across multiple servings, whereas the single-use system requires a new cup for each serving.
The difference is, in fact, that the cup doesn’t stop after just one coffee. It is returned, washed and prepared for its next use. In this way, the same cup can replace many disposable cups over its lifetime.
And the more times the cup is reused, the lower the carbon footprint per serving.
Production
The cup needs to be manufactured, but can be reused several times.
Return
The cups must be returned to the system so that they can be reused.
Wash
The cups are washed and prepared between each use.
Recycling
Reusing spreads the carbon footprint across multiple servings.
Carbon footprint
TWO USES.
THAT MEANS A SMALLER CARBON FOOTPRINT.
A reusable cup must be able to withstand being used time and time again. That is why it requires more material to produce than a disposable cup.
But it doesn’t take many uses before it starts to offset its carbon footprint.
The LCA shows that the New Loop cup, when 1.9 recycling cycles has a lower carbon footprint than the modelled average disposable cup.
This corresponds to a return rate of approximately. 50 %.
The more times the cup is used, the greater the impact on the climate.
Returns and recycling
Returns are an important part of the solution
High return rate
The more cups that are returned, the more times they can be used before they need to be replaced with new ones.
Multiple uses
When the same cup is used several times, the carbon footprint from its production is spread across several servings.
A slight decline in new construction
Greater reuse means that fewer new cups need to be produced for the same number of servings.
Integrated system
Returns, washing, transport and recycling must function as a single, integrated system.
