InstaRinse: A project to develop and publicly trial a novel, high efficiency, cup-washing appliance

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Across coffee shops, offices and universities, the disposable coffee cup has become synonymous with the UK's waste epidemic. 99.75% of the 2.5bn cups used annually are sent to landfill (House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee-2017) with \>50bn in the USA (earthday).On-the-go coffee consumption is increasing, while increasing the use of reusables is proving challenging. Only 3% of people have adopted them (Starbucks-2019), though this is not down to lack of reusables available. This is a key issue and highlights the underlying challenge compared to single-use plastic bags. Alongside environmental charity Hubbub, we investigated why reusable uptake is so low. \>40% of our 160 and Hubbub's 3,000+ respondents cited transporting a dirty cup as their key reason for rejection.Many large companies, in a bid to tackle their waste, have issued their employees with a reusable cup. However, life cycle assessment (LCA) of reusables highlights how this may have a negative environmental effect if they are not washed in an efficient manner, i.e. in a dishwasher (RECYC-QUÉBEC). The issue lies in that most people handwash them (dishwashers take too long). An office of 100 employees, may use over 100,000 litres of water annually simply handwashing reusables.InstaRinse offers a unique solution in an under-explored space. Designed as a free-standing or built-in unit, it is a customer operated, self-contained, appliance, which allows users to rapidly (~15s) rinse and dry reusables efficiently and hygienically. This represents a radical disruption to a limited state-of-the-art based on kitchen dishwashers and sinks.Key challenges include addressing the balance of heat, cleaning and drying to achieve an optimal, safe and hygienic steam-based wash suitable for multiple vessel sizes/shapes. We will adapt the technology of our innovative prototype to meet the need identified by stakeholders.