What is the environmental measure of using HuskeeCups over other materials?Updated 10 months ago
In March 2020, Huskee commissioned an independent Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) report through Edge Environmental Consulting. Here are some of the things we learned through this process as a company, and our key takeaways of this LCA:
- Cafes save up to $0.32 for every single-use cup and lid replaced
- It only takes 15 swaps to break even for a cafe in terms of capital and operational cost
- The HuskeeSwap system has a negligible impact on workflow (Time = $$)
- A modest 10% uptake by a cafe would equate to over $3,600 a year in savings (assumption: cafe selling 900 coffees/day and 56% take-away)
- A cafe saves $73 per customer per year (assumption: 1 coffee/day at $0.20 saving)
(adjusted for 2023 costs)
HuskeeCup Break Even Point
The break even measure of a product is an environmental measure of the costs to make that product (materials, energy, transport) and disposal - against those of a single-use item. Over the lifecycle of a cup, the environmental benefits increase when reused. The break even point is the number of uses required at which the benefits surpass those of single-use.
Based on peer-reviewed LCA analyses and the Upstream Reuse Wins Report, here is a comparison of HuskeeCups against other reusable cup materials.
Based on peer-reviewed LCA analyses and the Upstream Reuse Wins Report, here is a comparison of HuskeeCups against other reusable cup materials.
Reusable Cup Breakeven point Comparison
The average number of uses that a reusable cup must be used, to be more environmentally friendly than a single-use plastic-lined cup:
- Stainless Steel - 120 uses
- Ceramic - 70 uses
- Glass - 36 uses
- Huskee - 25 uses
The Break even point against compostable cups are only slightly higher; which in several ways are a 'regrettable substitution', and are more expensive to a business bottom line. Read more about Reuse vs Compostables here.