Reusable takeaway cup integrates contactless payment chip

A new, reusable takeaway cup has an integrated payment chip to incentivise customers to reduce their takeaway cup consumption

Spotted: Takeaway coffee is very popular in the UK – more than 7 million cups of coffee are used there every day. However, coffee retailers are tempered by the fact that less than 1 percent of disposable coffee cups are being recycled. In April 2018, the UK’s leading coffee chain Costa pledged to do something about this waste by promising to recycle 500 million takeaway cups by 2020. More recently, Costa has launched a new initiative that could help them fulfil that pledge — a reusable cup, called the Clever Cup, which contains its own detachable contactless chip. The chip is powered by Barclaycard’s contactless payment tech.

The Clever Cup will cost €17.40 and is sold in packaging which is itself made from recycled coffee cups. The cup features a silicon base, and the contactless chip is detachable for ease of washing. Once topped up using Barclays’ bPay app, the cup can be used to pay for drinks. The technology in the cup is not limited to Costa; it can be used wherever customers see the contactless payment symbol.

The Clever Cups are part of Costa Coffee’s wider re-launch of its “next generation” reusable range, encouraging customers to use reusable cups instead of single-use takeaway cups. The cups join waste reduction innovations such as biodegradable plastic film and edible straws. According to Jason Cotta, Managing Director at Costa Coffee, “Contactless technology has become increasingly prominent in our daily lives and through the launch of the new Costa-Barclaycard Clever Cup we hope to appeal to tech-savvy customers, to help facilitate and drive environmentally friendly behaviour.”