A Small Character with a BIG Mission!
Little Coffee Cup is on a mission to change how the world sees waste, paper, and possibility.
How It Started
Little Coffee Cup - a spirited character eager to explore the big wide world, began as a character in the UK's first children's book made entirely from recycled coffee cups.
The story follows a joyful journey full of curiosity, surprises, and discovery. But beyond the fun and adventure lies a deeper mission: to inspire a new generation to think differently about waste, reuse, and the planet.
Author of the book, Hayley Slack, used to help her mum with stock counts in the bookshop she worked in, and was always looking at the title pages to see where books came from. Back then, most were printed in the UK. That’s rarely the case now. Most mass-market books are imported, even those labelled ‘sustainably sourced’ — and so she thought, surely we can do better!
Hayley is uniquely positioned to take action as she works for Biffa, within the waste industry. She partnered with James Cropper in Kendal, a pioneer in sustainable paper innovation, to bring her vision to life. Together, they transformed UK waste into a meaningful publishing project.
Wanting to show that we can create children’s books using UK waste, supporting both the environment and local industry, she teamed up with independent Cumbrian based animation studio Plus3K to create a stunning, and high quality children's book made of coffee cups - 13 to be precise!
If Little Coffee Cup can demonstrate how recycled coffee cup waste can become new books we can promote greater rates of recycling, less imports and reduce the number of trees being used solely for new books.
Why can’t we give our billions of used coffee cups in the UK the chance to be turned into children’s books?
Want to know more? Follow our social media pages for regular updates, tips, and information on how you can help us change the world - one little coffee cup at a time!
