That is, of course, discarded coffee grinds and plastic bottles that need recycling.
Your morning coffee could have gone on to be used to make a pair of sneakers, a Finnish startup reveals. Rens makes its footwear from old coffee, cutting back on waste in terms of space in landfills and methane emissions.
5,000 backers pledged over $500,000 to see the sneaker come to life, which uses up 21 cups of coffee and 6 recycled plastic bottles in each pair of shoes. Excuse the pun, but that's good news for your carbon 'footprint' and just one example of Finland's remarkable, burgeoning circular economy.
Rens come in 9 different colours, and are waterproof and super comfy. Jesse Tran, the co-founder of Rens, wanted to do something to help reduce peoples’ carbon ‘footprint,’ while offering an everyday shoe that is functional and fashion-forward.
“As environmental awareness increases, so too does knowledge of the circular economy. Shoes made from recycled coffee grounds may seem novel to some, but we wholeheartedly believe that this is just the beginning of a revolution in garment technology and manufacturing,” said Tran.
Thus far, 250,000 water bottles and 750,000 cups of coffee have been turned into these shoes. The coffee grounds are combined in a low-heat environment with recycled plastic to create a coffee yarn to spin into the shoes upper section, while recycled plastic accounts for the other components, and a milky tree sap that biodegrades creates the outer sole.