Hospitality students receive £1,000 grant for Chuck It Cups

Published 22 February 2012

A team of students studying International Hospitality Management BA(Hons) have received  a £1,000 grant from the Springboard Charity for a project that came from a module at university.

The students involved are Amanda Berry, Nadine Brunswick, Jenny Darlow, Francesca Deans, Sararin Duangkae and Megan Noble. Their project was Chuck It Cups, these are cups that are both biodegradable and edible. The idea for these came from the module ‘Contemporary Issues in Hospitality’.

Senior lecturer, Conor Sheehan explains: “Each group was asked to propose, design, promote and exhibit an innovative concept relating to a key trend or issue of significance for the hospitality sector. After the initial development phase, students were required to pitch their concept idea to a scrutinising panel and then following this session refine their proposal as appropriate.

“Each group then took their concept to ‘market’ at an exhibition which was open to university students, staff and invited members of the public. This stage involved the design of pre exhibition promotional material and activities and subsequently the design and construction of the exhibition stand itself.”

Students from the Chuck It Cups project team

One of the students involved in the project is Nadine Brunswick. She said: “Through working on the Contemporary Issues in Hospitality module at university, we were shocked to discover that plastics cups take between 50 and 80 years to decompose, and polystyrene cups never decompose. This cannot be good for the environment.

“With over 400 festivals each year in the UK alone, the amount of litter generated has a significant impact on the environment. After a brainstorming session this led to us embarking on a mission to identify a biodegradable replacement for the plastic and polystyrene cups. Following a great deal of research and trial and error, we produced a biodegradable cup, which takes approximately one week to decompose.

A selection of different flavoured Chuck It Cups on display at the 'Contemporary Issues in Hospitality' exhibition

“The cups are high in nutrients and since they are biodegradable the nutrients are beneficial to the soil. This means the cups can be thrown away without a sense of guilt! As well as being biodegradable, as an added bonus the cups can be eaten if desired. They can be produced in a number of different flavours to complement the drinks inside, which offers a new taste sensation.

“After such an enthusiastic response at our ‘Contemporary Issues in Hospitality’ exhibition, and lots of support and encouragement from our module lecturers, we decided to take the ‘Chuck It Cups’ idea further.  The Springboard grants programme for entrepreneurial ideas seemed like a great place to start, and with their help the Chuck It Cups are becoming a reality.

“The Chuck It team are excited about embarking on this new project and are looking forward to what the future holds.”

To find out more about Chuck It Cups visit the Chuck It Cups Facebook page