Motivated by the epic amount of waste in landfills, particularly notable during his travels to China and South Africa, and with a passion to help the environment, the idea of Green Cups began to percolate while Austin ("Ozzy") Lang, one of the co-founders, was at university.
Environmentalism is not just up to the corporations.~ Ozzy Lang
In Canada alone, 1.5 billion coffee cups per year are thrown away (the equivalent of 4,000 garbage trucks) and, because these cups are constructed with a polyethylene lining to prevent hot liquid seeping through the cup, are not biodegradable or compostable.
Enter Green Cups (one of the 20 entrepreneur cohorts in ATB-X's Business Accelerator Program). Launched in 2016, Green Cups, which manufacturers a 100% fully compostable cup, is a "green" advertising agency. Knowing a compostable cup is more expensive to make and sell than the typical paper cup, Green Cups came up with a unique solution. Green Cups offers advertising on their cups, which creates a win-win: not only does it lower the cost to the same price as the traditional, unbranded paper cups small businesses purchase but also, it gets the advertising company in front of their target market.
For example, McEwan University has placed advertising on 60,000 cups destined for local high schools, reducing the costs of purchase of the cups.
The cups are available for distribution to small coffee businesses in universities, schools, rec centers, and any other coffee business who uses unbranded, unrecyclable paper cups.
Green Cups is social – follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @greencupsyyc.
Written By:
Kathy Dueck