KeepCup facts for kids
KeepCup's logo
|
|
A custom design of KeepCup for St Anne's College, Oxford
|
KeepCup is an Australian company that makes reusable coffee cups. It was started in 2007 by a sister and brother, Abigail Forsyth and Jamie Forsyth. They owned coffee shops in Melbourne and noticed how many single-use coffee cups were being thrown away.
They wanted to create a better solution. They aimed for a cup that was easy for baristas to use and good for customers on the go. KeepCup is often called the world's first reusable coffee cup designed for baristas. Their products are sold in many countries, including Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Europe, and China. KeepCup says that most of their cups are made locally in each region. Only the silicone bands come from China.
In 2009, KeepCup hoped to get 30% of people to reuse their cups. By 2017, many of their customers reached this goal. This happened after the ABC TV show War on Waste showed a big problem. Over one billion non-recyclable coffee cups were going into Australian landfills each year.
Later, the TV show Blue Planet II by David Attenborough also raised awareness about plastic waste. In 2018, the UK Parliament suggested banning disposable cups if they weren't recyclable by 2023. These events made more people aware of the global waste problem. This inspired KeepCup to work even harder to remove disposable cups from daily life.
How KeepCup Helps the Planet
KeepCup is very focused on being a responsible company. They want to help the environment and their communities.
Reducing Waste
As of 2019, KeepCup believes its users have stopped billions of single-use cups from going into landfills. These cups cannot be recycled. This means less trash polluting our planet.
KeepCup also gives 1% of its total sales money to the One Percent for the Planet campaign. They say this is part of their duty as a company to protect the environment. They also have strong connections with groups like Sea Shepherd. These groups work to protect oceans and marine life.
Environmental Impact
In 2018, KeepCup studied how their products affect the environment. This study is called a life-cycle assessment (LCA). It showed that KeepCups have a lower environmental impact than single-use paper cups. This is true after using a KeepCup just 24 times. If you use it once a day, that's less than a month!
The study also found that KeepCups are better for the environment than compostable cups after only 10 days of use. This shows that choosing a reusable cup makes a big difference.
Future Goals
KeepCup has been asking for laws to ban single-use packaging since 2009. They hope to see a world free of single-use packaging by 2023. This shows their strong commitment to a cleaner future.
