Kiwi coffee company Vivace Espresso has designed a cup to support Māia Health Foundation.
Canterbury-based Vivace Espresso has teamed up with Innocent Packaging to create a commercially compostable coffee cup that will raise funds for Māia Health Foundation, who is on a mission to enhance healthcare experiences throughout Canterbury.
Vivace Espresso’s general manager, Paul Baker, says around five per cent of consumers are using reusable cups for their takeaway coffees. With Vivace Espresso coffee being sold in cafes around the country, around 1.3 million single-use coffee cups were being used by Vivace Espresso drinkers at the environment’s cost and doing nothing for the community.
Baker decided that he would turn this instant landfill into something positive. The new coffee cups, created in partnership with Innocent Packaging, aren’t chemical based and can be composted at commercial composting facilities, of which there are 11 in New Zealand that accept compostable coffee cups.
Although there’s still a way to go to ensure there is adequate commercial compost facilities available in New Zealand, Innocent Packaging are involved in discussions happening at council and government levels to consult on infrastructure requirements.
The plant-based coffee cups can be composted in your home compost depending on the temperature and conditions. In a commercial compost it will take 10-12 weeks to break down, but at home this time is likely to be increased.
From each sale of a carton of coffee cups, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Māia Health Foundation. This will result in about $10,000 going back to the foundation annually.
Māia Health Foundation is all about community health funding, and it’s fundraising to support major projects in Christchurch Hospital’s new building. One of which is a future-proof rooftop helipad.
“The redevelopment of Christchurch Hospital is the largest in our nation’s history, and [some patients have] to travel from all over the South Island to receive specialist treatment only provided in Canterbury. We feel this is a cause many of our Kiwi customers will feel passionate about, just like we do,” Baker says.
Vivace Espresso, Innocent Packaging and Māia Health Foundation working together is a great example of Kiwis helping Kiwis. Both Vivace Espresso and Innocent Packaging are 100 per cent New Zealand owned and operated and by helping the community funding initiative they will give back to Canterbury as well as the South Island.