Into Coffee serves in edible and reusable cups
Edible cups taste like semi-sweet biscuits and give customers a treat with their coffee. Into Coffee is located amongst creative studios and co-working spaces in Collingwood. Initially starting as a co-working space, Into Coffee owner Luke Phillips wanted to create and run this cafe with as little waste and environmental impact as possible.
What it means for the business
Manager Jarryd Griffiths works with suppliers to minimise single-use items. Into Coffee has installed a milk tap which connects with a 19-litre milk keg. Other milk types such as oat or soy milk are supplied in tetra-paks which are recycled to make furniture. They work with Reground and Farm Goat to process their soft plastic and organic waste including coffee grounds.
What it means for customers
Into Coffee offers coffee in either edible cups or reusable clay cups and has never provided disposable cups for takeaway. The edible coffee cups are made from locally sourced oats and grains and have a taste similar to semi-sweet biscuits. They also welcome customers to bring their own reusable containers for coffee and food.
The impact
By having no disposable coffee cups and using a milk tap, they've saved more than 1,800 coffee cups and 300 milk bottles from going into the landfill.
‘People now expect businesses to do more for sustainability. We love being creative and the community around here is always willing to try our experiments, such as edible coffee cups.'
What's next?
On the first Tuesday of every month Into Coffee hosts Melbourne's Social Impact Business Meetup. They also designed a remanufacturing process that uses trash to produce a variety of bags.