LONDON, UK — Costa Coffee and Barclaycard have unveiled the UK’s first reusable coffee cup with integrated contactless payment technology. Named the Clever Cup, the silicon-based reusable cup has an integrated contactless technology, powered by Barclaycard’s bPay, that allows users to make purchases with the cup, top up their balance and track payments online or via a dedicated app.
Created to encourage the use of reusable cups, the contactless chip is detachable and customers can use the cup to make purchases within Costa stores or anywhere else accepting of contactless payments.
Users are also able to track their spending, top up their balance and block or cancel contactless payments online or through the available bPay app.
According to Finextra, Costa Coffee managing director Jason Cotta said: “Contactless technology has become increasingly prominent in our daily lives and through the launch of the new Costa / Barclaycard Clever Cup we hope to appeal to those tech-savvy customers to help facilitate and drive environmentally friendly behaviour.”
Rob Morgan, head, sales and partnerships at Barclays said: “Today’s shoppers are looking for seamless and ‘to hand’ ways to pay. Our wearable chip technology allows almost any accessory to be transformed into a smart payment device, unlocking the benefits of speed and ease in everyday purchases.”
The contactless coffee cup is expected to be available for £14.99 across all Costa stores, however a rollout date hasn’t yet been confirmed.
The Clever Cup initiative is a part of Costa’s wider plan to increase the use of reusable cups and tackle the growing issue of coffee cups ending up in landfills. In April this year, the coffeehouse chain committed to recycling the same volume of cups it puts onto the market.
Costa expects to recycle at least 100 million cups and up 500 million cups by 2020, the equivalent of its entire yearly sales of takeaway cups.
