58 billion paper cups are thrown away – and are not recycled – every year. In a contest hosted by Jovoto, and partly sponsored by Starbucks and Core77, the Betacup project has the goal to find the best ideas to eliminate paper cup consumption. What could be a more sustainable alternative? This entry, by Miller Creative, solves this problem, in a realistic, manufacturable, and eco-friendly way.
The Brief:
“Rethink the way we consume coffee and present solutions that strive to reduce paper cup waste. We are not looking for just another reusable cup design. Think beyond just the vessel for carrying coffee, and develop a way to cause behavior change at a massive scale.”
Miller Creative’s Solution:
“The Radial Fin Cup is an attempt to improve the typical coated, rolled and glued coffee cup with a plastic lid, and satisfy coffee shop owners, consumers and the the environment alike. This is a tough call.
Retailers want low cost and happy customers. Customers want ease-of-use, convenience and cleanliness. The environment needs us to come up with sustainable ways to drink our daily coffee.
We felt avoiding reusables was important since consumers at large are not likely to reuse their cups. (Convenience factor.)
A disposable cup that doesn’t cost a lot more than the current model would be ideal. Eliminating extra materials was also key. We came up with a sleeveless cup that is sustainable and 100% biodegradable. Some carefully considered improvements make this idea very attainable in the real world.
The design incorporates fins to allow for insulation from the cup surface without adding an extra sleeve. A PLA (polylactic acid) lid is improved by making it more recognizable as non-recyclable. (It is 100% biodegradable, and often gets confused with plastic.)”
See full article at: Redesigning the Coffee Cup – TheDieline.com: Package Design.
