Swedish Firm UniCup Aims To Replace Plastic Coffee Cup Lids With Liplid

We love to drink coffee out-of-home (OOH). But, according to a recent study, our love of coffee-to-go generates 118 billion OOH cups of coffee annually. 

Usually, a plastic lid sits atop these cups of coffee, and those lids are generally unrecycled. This truth has led to legislative action to ban or dissuade disposable cups and lids like in Ireland. Some cafes are proactive, funding alternatives to single-use coffee cups, like Starbucks and McDonald’s, or doing away with the option, like Blue Bottle.

The latest design to replace the plastic coffee lid is Liplid and comes from the Swedish firm UniCup. Founders Lars Bendix and Håkan Löfholm have 20 years of experience developing carry-out and beverages products. The duo identified several problems with the current design, besides the contribution to plastic pollution plastic lids made. Existing tops fail too often and spill, and beverages are impossible to cool and sip simultaneously. Over a cup of coffee one day, Lars and Håkan sketched out the initial design of the Lidlip.

The Lidlip hangs on two sides of the cup’s lid, bowing down slightly inside. On either side are sipping holes. One hole can vent and cool the beverage; the other can be used to drink. The Liplid gets made out of 100% recyclable material made of Swedish pine and spruce using a unique dry molded fiber process.

“We have developed an environmentally friendly lid that sits inside the cup. [Liplid] improves the cup’s stability and the overall drinking experience,” Bendix and Löfholm said in a press release. “You drink from the rim of the cup instead of the lid, so you don’t burn yourself, and it doesn’t taste like plastic or paper. The coffee tastes just like it does in your coffee cup at home.”

Liplid is currently welcoming sales inquiries via its website.