My day doesn’t start until I get my hands over my morning coffee and I am sure many of you have the same story to tell. But, how often do we, the coffee addicts feel guilty about the amount of disposable coffee cups we turn towards the landfills. Let me tell you that nearly 58 billion disposable coffee cups are thrown away every year. In an attempt to reduce this waste, coffee giant Starbucks has thrown its weight behind the Betacup Challenge. The design competition dedicated to building a more sustainable coffee cup offers $20,000 of prize money to the participant who proposes a legitimate alternative.
Out of the some interesting and some not so interesting entries, the one that really stand out for me is the “Cococup”. This green entry sees the solution to the throw away cups in coconut hull. The designer suggests coconut hull as a naturally sourced, biodegradable material for coffee cups. His ingenuity doesn’t end here, he also proposed special “Cocobins” into which the cups can be thrown for recycling. From these bins the Cococups can be collected, broken down and reconstruct into new cups.
Via: Cnet