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The most sensible, environmentally friendly and connoisseur-standard custom coffee cups are those made from food grade plastic. One prerequisite for living an eco-friendly life is knowing where, how and from what materials your household items are made. Today we take you through the process of creating the most popular barista standard reusable custom coffee cups – arming you with the knowledge to make the right choices!

The Cup

The body of good eco-friendly reusable coffee cups are made from polypropylene 5. This food safe plastic is widely used for hot and cold foods, and for long term and short term storage of food and drinks. It is also recyclable – you’ll notice the abbreviations ‘HDPE’ and ‘LDPE’ near the recycling number on many of your plastic packets. Polypropylene 5 has a melting point far above the boiling point of water – so while you can’t put your eco friendly cups in the oven, they can easily handle homemade coffee!

The Lid

The lid needs different flexibility and insulation properties to the body of your eco cup, so it is made from a different plastic. Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) is resistant to oil/grease, abrasion and bending. A variant of this material is actually used in the iPhone case, and there are experimental biodegradable forms being created currently.

The Seal

The seal for your eco cup is made from silicone, another environmentally friendly material. Silica is an abundant material (much of the sand in the world is composed of silica), and when sourced from environmentally responsible companies, has low embodied environmental impacts such as chemical waste.

Overall, polypropylene, TPU and silicone have low embodied energy in their manufactures, excellent product longevity and (mostly) good recyclability. The silicone seal is the only non-recyclable product in custom coffee cups. You can drink easy, knowing that your eco cups is safe for you, and far better for the environment than either disposable coffee cups or ceramic mugs!

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