Hayley Slack, who works in the waste industry, said the idea came from her experience both at work and at home.
She said: “I read a lot of children’s books to my kids and I noticed nearly all of them were printed in China. I thought, why can’t we recycle our own paper here in the UK and use it for children’s books?
“I see so much waste every day and it just seems such a good resource not to utilise.”
Hayley Slack with her new book (Image: Hayley Slack) Slack partnered with James Cropper, a specialist paper mill in Kendal, which has developed technology to recycle disposable coffee cups into premium paper.
She then worked with Plus3k Studios in Carlisle to illustrate the story using a combination of animation and real-life backgrounds.
She said: “That was the lightbulb moment for me. I realised the story could be told not just in words but in the very pages of the book itself.”
The main character of the story is a coffee cup, chosen because of its visibility in everyday life.
Hayley signing her book (Image: Hayley Slack) Slack said: “Children see them everywhere, in cafés, in cars, on walks. By bringing a coffee cup to life, it helps children think about where it goes after use.
“My hope is that she will eventually become a mascot for sustainability, used to raise awareness even beyond the book.”
The book, called The Little Coffee Cup, is designed to make sustainability more engaging for children.
She said: “Children remember stories. I wanted to create something fun and entertaining that makes recycling relatable. It’s not just about facts, it’s about something they will remember and talk about.”
The story is firmly rooted in Cumbria, beginning in Carlisle, travelling through the Lake District and ending in Kendal, where the real recycling process happens.
Slack said: “When I found out the paper mill was just down the road in Kendal, I was absolutely buzzing. It makes it a fully Cumbrian story.”
The book is currently available on littlecoffeecup.com, in Waterstones, and at several local shops and cafes including Foxes in Carlisle.
The Little Coffee Cup book (Image: Hayley Slack) Slack hopes to expand distribution nationally but says it depends on increasing the number of coffee cups collected for recycling.
She said: “Not all cups are suitable for turning into books because of the coatings used.
“Part of my mission is to work with businesses and encourage them to choose recyclable cups that can feed back into this process.”
Slack also hopes the project will raise awareness more widely within publishing.
She said: “My dream would be to see more books printed in the UK on recycled paper. Instead of importing books from China, we could reduce waste, support local manufacturing and help solve our waste problem here.”
For now, she says the most rewarding result has been seeing the reaction from children.
She said: “The best part is hearing that kids are pestering their parents to recycle. That’s the power of stories, they stick.
“If children grow up believing recycling is just what you do, then we’ll have achieved something really important.”