8 min.
April 4, 2023
Why a deposit on your coffee cup can be a step towards a more sustainable future
Text:
Casper Hindse
Photo:
Kasper Løftgaard
The idea for New Loop was born in 2019 when Anders Barsøe, then CEO of Letz Sushi, and multi-artist Anders Morgenthaler wanted to create a more sustainable coffee cup. Today, they have expanded the concept to include washable, reusable packaging in a return system that will eventually cover all types of packaging. There's a special reason for this.
- The amount of waste that takeaway food leaves behind is almost vulgar, says Chairman Anders Barsøe. - "We know how to get rid of our deposit bottles, so why not also have a deposit system for packaging? Something needs to be done about this.
NEW LOOP
- Has been around since June 2020.
- Anders Barsøe and Anders Morgenthaler launched the project after a walk in Amager Strandpark, where the visions became concrete.
- Cooperative members include companies such as Letz Sushi, Prolog Kaffe and Porridge.
- In 2021, New Loop conducted a large pilot project together with 7-Eleven during Folkemødet.
- New Loop has won the DIF Innovation Labs: Challenge GREEN SPORT.
Philanthropic project
It has taken more than 30 years for Dansk Retursystem to get more than 90 percent of purchased deposit cans and bottles back into the vending machines. New Loop is in a hurry, because the world doesn't have 30 years to establish a return system for packaging.
While you can get a crown for a can at Netto, we've put a five-kroner deposit on our coffee cups. The incentive to return the cups must be more pronounced," says Anders Barsøe.
New Loop already has several strong partners. The airline DAT is a regular partner and in Copenhagen you can drink coffee from them at Prolog and Original Coffee. Large companies have also started to embrace the concept.
- Every single day we have customers who contact us. They range from small businesses to Domino's Pizza, and they want a reusable pizza box. We're in the process of creating that now," says Barsøe.
It has taken more than 30 years for Dansk Retursystem to get more than 90 percent of purchased deposit cans and bottles back into the vending machines. New Loop is in a hurry, because the world doesn't have 30 years to establish a return system for packaging.
While you can get a crown for a can at Netto, we've put a five-kroner deposit on our coffee cups. The incentive to return the cups must be more pronounced," says Anders Barsøe.
New Loop already has several strong partners. The airline DAT is a regular partner and in Copenhagen you can drink coffee from them at Prolog and Original Coffee. Large companies have also started to embrace the concept.
- Every single day we have customers who contact us. They range from small businesses to Domino's Pizza, and they want a reusable pizza box. We're in the process of creating that now," says Barsøe.
Standardized systems
New Loop combines idealism with a business model that must work in practice. "When 50 percent of the waste in Aarhus C's bins is takeaway packaging, we have to do something," says Chairman Anders Barsøe.
- I want to make a difference in the world, but you can't do that without making money. While Anders Morgenthaler is a true visionary when it comes to sustainability, my focus is on finding the compromises that make things work. There has been some hesitation from the political side when it comes to reusing packaging, which is why we also focus on business partnerships.
New Loop works with companies like Wolt, Letz Sushi and Domino's to make reusable packaging a natural part of consumers' everyday lives.
- They can help us make it natural for you as a customer to deposit your packaging and receive the money digitally. It must be easy to know which cups or pizza boxes have been returned and which are still in circulation. This is where we need barcodes like the ones GS1 stands for.
- GS1's knowledge of global standards is important for a startup like us, because with such specific knowledge GS1 can do something we can't - and luckily GS1 is not afraid to share their experience with us. Instead of our path to growth having to invent everything ourselves, we have been able to reach out to GS1 and use GS1's know-how to quickly move forward with our visions," says Anders Barsøe, Chairman of the Board at New Loop.
As well as saving a start-up company money by being able to share and acquire knowledge in a field as complicated as standards and barcodes, the standardized systems also provide the opportunity for New Loop to enter the global market.
- One of the great things about GS1 is that they don't close themselves off. GS1 has passed us on to PSQR, who are on top of things when it comes to handling software.
Barcoded future
In 2025, a new producer responsibility law will come into force at European level, making sellers responsible for the full life cycle of their packaging. The increased registration of products could potentially make a deposit system on sustainable products even more crucial.
- We want smartphones to be able to read barcodes on our products to ease the workflow for manufacturers, sellers and buyers. We need to track a lot of things, and GS1 is a good fit for this. There are plenty of people in the world who can create QR codes, but few who can register and help as accurately as we have experienced with GS1," says Anders Barsøe.
Software behind a sustainable cup
GS1 Denmark has established a partnership between New Loop and PSQR, a company that provides traceability software. The QR codes ensure that the pledge works, making the system sustainable and avoiding shrinkage.
- When something moves from A to B to C to D, our database is the place to register and keep up to date. So it is possible to look up a product's path," explains Customer Solutions Advocate at PSQR, Christian Lindberg and continues:
- It's the deposit that pays the bill, you might say, which is why you need to be able to activate and deactivate a cup so they can't be cheated. At some point, the cup is scanned back, so the deposit is returned, and finally the cup is registered for washing until it is ready again.
