Ultimate Solution to Paper Cup Waste?

We’ve talked before in this space about the scourge of Fast Food packaging waste on our otherwise advanced society. Bio-degradable materials aside, there has been little progress on this front in recent years. But, now, A leading take-out food retailer has introduced a new idea: Edible cups…

Edible Coffee Cup - © 2015 KFCConventioinal paper Coffee Cup on the left, new Scoff-ee cookie cup on the right.
Do you want all the extra sugar with your coffee? Would you pay
a premium for the eco-responsible cup?

KFC – whose upgraded signature coffee is named ‘Seattle’s Best’ (a dig at Seattle-based Starbucks) – has announced it will soon test market a new edible coffee cup in selected UK outlets. How do they do it?

According to the company’s pre-launch promotion, the cup is primarily constructed of a cookie moulded in the basic cup shape, with a lining of ‘heat-resistant white chocolate’ and an outer layer of ‘edible sugar paper’. No mention, yet, of what’s in those materials. But I suspect KFC will have to list the ingredients somewhere prominent when they actually start serving the cups. They may be containers, but they are also food!

Anyway…

The so-called Scoff-ee cups are,in addition to all their obvious nummy and eco-friendly attributes, infused with various scents, including coconut sun cream, freshly cut grass and wildflowers. How these scents are supposed to enhance our coffee-drinking experience, I for one cannot see.

No mention, either, in the publicity, of how much extra the edible cups will cost. Surely, there will be a consumer price on all this luxury and environmentally responsible ‘menu item’? Where a conventional paper cup might cost a fraction of a cent, in the volumes LFC and other giants buy them, the cooke cup must cost at least a nickle apiece. an KFC afford to give them away with their regular and fancy coffees?

And here’s another point to be pondered. Those who prefer their coffee without sugar won’t be able to wear their eco-friendly badge and have it their way if they opt for the new, sugar-laden cup!

Stay tuned…

~ Maggie J.