THE world’s first published children’s book to be printed on paper made from recycled coffee cups, made using James Cropper’s CupCycling process, is set to launch soon.
Little Coffee Cup and the Big Surprise is the debut title from author and sustainability advocate Hayley Slack. The tale introduces young readers to Little Coffee Cup, a character who leaves the comfort of a café to discover the big, wide world. Beneath the playful storyline lies a bigger purpose: to spark conversations about waste, reuse and the circular economy.
“As a mum of two and someone who works in the waste industry, I wanted to create something meaningful that would make kids and parents think differently about what we throw away,” said Hayley Slack, who works at Biffa. “Books have the power to shape how children see the world, so why not use them to also show how the world can be?”
Each book is made from 13 recycled coffee cups, collected from across the UK. Through CupCycling, those cups are given a second life by being transformed into high-quality paper at James Cropper’s Burneside Mill in the Lake District. In a poetic twist, the book ends at the mill where the real cup-to-book transformation takes place.
The book’s release is timely, following the UK Government’s decision to scrap a proposed mandatory take-back scheme for disposable cups.
According to environmental action NGO WRAP, an estimated 3.2 billion single-use cups are used annually in the UK.
Educators, parents, and sustainability advocates can register their interest now to be the first to hear when the book becomes available.
