Sports stadia around the world are starting to take match-day waste, recycling and sustainability much more seriously. Manchester City Football Club are going one step further...
Throughout the forthcoming Premier League season, Manchester City's Etihad Stadium will be serving hot drinks in edible coffee cups. The receptacles are made of wafer and keep their form when containing coffee, tea, or hot chocolate - and, crucially, don’t end up in the trash.
The idea behind the cup is very much like an ice-cream cone. Hot contents are served in wafer “cups” made of seven natural, vegan ingredients, chiefly wheat flour, oat bran, and water. They’re able to withstand high temperatures due to a pressure heat treatment process, but they don’t contain any sugar, wax, or artificial coatings.
Filled with hot liquid, the wafer stays leak-proof for up to 12 hours, and crispy for up to 45 minutes - the duration, conveniently, of one half of a soccer game. The bottom half of the cups are wrapped in a paper label, which is both recycled and recyclable, for easier gripping; and to ensure that the bottom of the biscuit doesn’t touch any surfaces. They’re designed to taste like a thin cookie dunked in a cup of coffee, and contain approximately 100 calories per cup.
These innovative wafer cups are made by BioBite as a way to offer a “tasty, crunchy, and a fully organic alternative to all disposable cups,” they told FastCompany. BioBite already supplies a range of UK restaurants, bakeries, and chocolatiers - as their products can also hold soups, as well as cold items like yogurt and ice-cream. The company’s goal is to “gradually replace unsustainable paper and plastic solutions currently used in the food and beverage industry.”