Throwaway coffee cups create business

With new laws coming in 2020 to ban throwaway plastic cups and other utensils, a Lyon start-up, Ced’In, has created a machine to wash glass gobelets to be reused and save waste.

Called CleanCup, it was created by Eléonore Blon­deau and Lionel Amieux and Eléonore said: “I was at EM Lyon Busi­ness School and thought of the 2020 law when I saw how how many cups were thrown away each time people had a coffee.

“I was shocked and the idea started then.

“We knew no one would bother washing a cup in the office after using it so our CleanCup system allows people to do what they do at home.”

CleanCup is made in France and the first will be set up this month at the Belair Camp start-up incubator, where Ced’In is based.

France bins 32,000 tonnes of plastic cups each year and Ced’In’s eight staff audit companies’ cup use and advise on cutting waste. The elegant CleanCup machine costs €100/month depen­ding on use and users pay a refundable deposit for glasses so firms can stop buying one-use cups.