Each year, millions of single-use cups and containers are used and discarded across Grand Cayman’s hotels, cafés, and tours. Even with recycling efforts, over 90% still end up in landfill or the ocean.
Founded in the Cayman Islands in 2025, Island Cup Co. is on a mission to make island
sustainability simple, circular, and community-powered.
We believe in better cups and better beaches.
We’re tired of single-use cups being a downer on your poolside and beach bar drinking
experience. They’re terrible to drink out of and terrible for the environment we’re trying to enjoy.
Island Cup Co. is proud to be the Caribbean’s one and only reusable cup initiative. We’re
starting with cups, but that’s just the beginning…
Our Founder JD (James Dartnall) has spent the last 10 years of his life finding ways to minimize his own plastic usage.
Recently James competed his first plastic-free expedition from London to Cape Town. 18 months driving and camping through African without using any single-use plastics. The inspiration was that African countries don’t produce their own plastic packaging or goods, it’s all imported and the
waste cannot be recycled or shipped elsewhere so there’s a growing waste issue everywhere in Africa.
Now in the Cayman Islands, James saw the exact same problem. Islands everywhere are shipping in plastic goods but very little leaves the islands and none of it is recycled. But space is a huge commodity in Cayman and now the landfill site is the highest point on the island and growing!
50,000+ cups are discarded each day on Grand Cayman.
This number is expected to grow close to 100,000 by 2029 as new hotels, bars and restaurants
open annually.
Over 65 tons of plastic waste is created each year on island.
Less than 4% of hospitality waste is recycled on Grand Cayman and there’s currently no
facility to process “compostable” alternatives.
Plastic cups pile up 5,000 cubic meters of our landfill space each year.
This is the same as 13 Olympic sized swimming pools we’re wasting on landfill for plastic cups.
The Key Issues
Limited waste management capacity on-island
Rising landfill costs and environmental impact
Corporate sustainability goals often lack visible, local results
Our Solution
Reuse is the answer. The best way to reduce single-use waste is to reuse what we have, over and over again. To achieve this
we are building a community of people, businesses, organisations and NGOs across the Cayman Islands that share our mindset
and want to be part of a reuse revolution.
Our Reuse Model
We offer innovative reusable products that are reliable, cost effective and sustainable directly replacing ALL single-use
cups across the Cayman Islands
Our products elevate the customer experience while also decreasing the customer’s risk of ingesting dangerous PET plastics
that can leech into food and drink from single-use products
Our first product is ONECUP – a strong reusable plastic cup that can be used across all hotels, bars or restaurants
We help our vendors transition to reusables through training, specific collection bins and signage
Our sustainable brand alignment improves customer experience and satisfaction
Our state-of-the-art wash facility in George Town will be operational from December 2025 and capable of processing up to
4000 cups an hour
We use an allowance-based subscription model keeping billing consistent and simple for our vendors
Clients who minimize their cup losses receive discounted rates, gamifying the reduction of plastic waste on island