Safia Qureshi: A project to help eliminate paper cup waste in London

Safia Qureshi talks about her new, chai wallah-inspired project, Cup Club, which aims to reduce the amount of waste caused by disposable coffee cups in London.

From the Series

Safia Qureshi is half Studio [D] Tale, a design studio based in London, Harare and Cape Town that focuses on social innovation and impact design. Studio [D] Tale has been looking for a way to address the problem of waste in London and the designers have looked for inspiration from the east.

Inspired by the chai wallahs of India, who sell chai in ubiquitous glass cups, Studio [D] Tale has launched an initiative that provides a sharing cup for London. The project is called Cup Club.

The Cup Club cup is an eco-friendly, biodegradable, plant-based plastic cup that can be washed and reused multiple times, eliminating tons of paper and plastic cup waste from the streets of London. A member of Cup Club buys their daily coffees in a Cup Club cup, which they can take away with them to drink and then deposit at a collection point. The cups are then collected, washed and distributed to retailers again. 

Safia Qureshi and Maxwell Mutanda will be speaking at Design Indaba Conference 2016. Book now.