A World-First Reusable Coffee Cup Made from Recycled Takeaway Cups Has Just Launched in Australia

The zero-waste movement started small, with cafes, bars, farmers markets and environmental groups encouraging us to ditch single-use cups, bags and straws. Now, the big guys have finally joined the party. Last month, Maccas pledged to ditch plastic straws by 2020 and Woollies has ditched single-use plastic bags (Coles will hopefully follow suit on August 29). And the latest company to jump on board is 7-Eleven, who has just launched a (surprisingly) great product.

The world-first reusable coffee cup, dubbed the rCUP, is made from six recycled takeaway coffee cups. Costing a reasonable $15, the cup is made in collaboration with Simply Cups — a coffee cup recycling company that functions across Australia and the UK. Since launch, Simply Cups has upcycled more than 1.48 million takeaway cups into reusable cups, car park bumpers and hospital trays.

The rCUP is 100 percent leak proof (supposedly) and fully insulated, so if you forget about your coffee it'll still be hot half-an-hour later. It's also available at all 7-Eleven stores across the country.

To make the rCUPs, 7-Eleven needs single-use takeaway cups — and it's collecting them at over 200 stores across NSW, Vic, Qld and WA, too. The stores are collecting all takeaway coffee cups (not just their own), Slurpee cups and plastic straws to recycle together with Simply Cups.

So next time you forget your keep cup, you don't have to feel as guilty.

The rCUP is now available at all Australian 7-Eleven stores. You can recycle your takeaway coffee cups, plastic straws and Slurpee cups at select stores in NSW, Vic, Qld and WA.