As a first step, founders Liam Metzen and Leonardt Mücke of Hamburg-based startup Coffeecycle used the coffee grounds from AIDAprima to create a skin-friendly, nourishing soap. Only coffee grounds from certified Fairtrade coffee are used. The soap contains valuable ingredients such as coconut and olive oil and, like all cosmetics and most cleaning products on board the AIDA fleet, is free of micro plastic.
Cutting food waste
‘We were absolutely convinced by Coffeecycle's idea,’ said Johannes Nagel, corporate hotel manager, AIDA Cruises. ‘This partnership underlines our commitment to sustainable practices and our ongoing efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of the cruise industry. Efficiently recycling coffee grounds is an important step in sustainably reducing food waste while developing innovative products.’
The Coffee Soap comes in three different scents: the classic AIDA Sea Scent, Peach and Orange. They are available now on all AIDA ships, except AIDAaura, at a retail price of €9.90.
In the future, coffee grounds from other AIDA ships calling at Hamburg will also be used to make the product.
‘We are very excited about this cooperation with AIDA,’ commented Metzen and Mücke. ‘Since we founded Coffeecycle as baristas, our primary goal has been to recycle the maximum amount of coffee grounds. This collaboration with AIDA allows us to do just that and is perfectly aligned with our mission. We are curious to see what quantities of coffee grounds we can now reuse and thus save from disposal.’
