4 eco-friendly products put sustainable spins on classic practices, from teacups to hankies

Imagine a world where your coffee cup can be used again and again, or where the tissue you blow your nose into can be washed, dried and put back in your pocket. Or how about a milk bottle made of glass that never needs to be thrown away?

Amazing new environmentally-friendly technologies, or a return to the old ways of doing things?

In fact, they are both. In a bid to cut waste - much of it unbiodegradable plastic - and greenhouse gas emissions, big corporations and nimble startups are re-discovering ideas that your parents' or grandparents' generation once viewed as normal. Here are four of the best.

The re-usable tissue

Startup LastObject has already launched a reusable cotton bud, and now is seeking crowdfunding for its non-disposable tissues.

An improvement on the old-fashioned handkerchief, LastTissue comes in a silicone case: pull a clean tissue from the bottom and then stuff it back on the top after use. There are six tissues in each pack which can then be washed and repacked.

"It’s like if a handkerchief and a tissue pack had a baby," says the company on its Kickstarter page where it has already recived pledges of $600,000.

The washable coffee cup

Back in the day, coffee and tea were served in china cups that could last as useful items forever until they broke. But the modern take-out culture means billions of non-recyclable, plastic-lined cups are thrown away every year.

McDonald's and Starbucks have begun testing 'smart' reusable cups that have radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips or QR codes for tracking, Bloomberg reported. Two independent coffee shops in California are doing trials with the cups to see how the well technology works and whether consumers engage with the slightly new way of doing things.

The eco-friendly commute

Looking for an emissions-free way to get to work? Sure, an electric car fueled by renewable energy might do it, but they are expensive and require a great deal of resources to build. What about getting back on the bike?

Around the world, cities are building bike parks, bike-sharing, bike lanes and other infrastructure to make cycling safe, fun, and even cool.

Reinventing the milkman

The Loop initiative - which has trialed in New York and Paris, aims to deliver groceries in packaging which is then returned to be washed and reused.

This is similar to how milk used to be distributed in many parts of the world - with a milkman delivering glass bottles of the stuff and picking up the empties.