The cups, which are vanilla flavoured and leakproof, have been a big hit with the customers who have used them, said Air New Zealand senior manager Customer Experience Niki Chave, adding they’ve also been used as dessert bowls.

According to Chave the airline will continue to trial ‘twiice’s’ edible coffee cups and work with the company and other partners to explore scaling options that could make it a viable long-term product for the airline.

Air New Zealand trials edible coffee cups (Cre: Air New Zealand).

“It’s terrific that Air New Zealand has partnered with us to showcase to its customers and the world that a little bit of Kiwi ingenuity and innovation could have a really positive impact on the environment while at the same time delivering a really cool and tasty customer experience,” said ‘twiice’ co-founder, Jamie Cashmore.

‘twiice’ is working on extending its edible range of crockery and expects to rollout new products next year.

The ‘twiice’ edible cup trial backs up Air New Zealand’s recent switch to plant-based coffee cups on board all aircraft and in lounges. The plant-based cups are made from paper and corn instead of plastic, which enables the cup to break down in a commercial composter. Switching to plant-based coffee cups is expected to prevent around 15 million cups from going to landfill annually. The airline is also encouraging customers to bring their own reusable cups on board aircraft and into its lounges.

Cre: Air New Zealand

Nguyen Mai Huong-COMM