Berkana Technology Group (Berkana LLC)
Introduction
Our entry is based on making reuse convenient. We recognize that the underlying factor driving the problem is an addiction to convenience; the existing systems we have in place make it far more convenient for the consumers and far more cost effective for the businesses to dispose of cups than to reuse them. With this in mind, our design objective was to design a system for reuse that takes convenience and cost effectiveness into consideration at every step.
The result is not a mere product design; very rarely can a mere product design solve a problem that is the outcome of a system. What we have here is a business plan concept offered as if BetaCup and Starbucks were consulting clients of ours. The problem of disposable coffee cup waste is the outcome of our established disposal system, and the ease with which the paper industry can produce a cheap disposable cup. We are convinced that an adequate alternative system can be built, but in sober honesty, we must admit that our solution (and any realistic solution) will require a significant capital investment.
Solution Overview
The solution’s major elements are summarized as follows:
• A company (which we will call BetaCup for the purpose of this presentation) would be established to deploy and manage a Unified Reusable Cup Standard (URCS).
• BetaCup would establish washing and distribution facilities with automated cup washing and sorting machines in areas deemed suitable for our cup collection service. The machines would wash the cups and sort them according the brand of the cafe? printed on the cups.
• A reusable, stackable cup of a standardized size with an attached lid would be used instead of disposable cups for all drinks Grande or smaller.
• BetaCup would market branded cups, cup collection stackers, and cup washing machines to every cafe? and coffee distributor within the service range of the washing facilities.
• Cup collection stackers would be deployed within cafe?s, and on near-by trash cans. The participating cafe?s would manage the collection and washing of the cups from these collection points using automated cup washing equipment marketed by BetaCup.
• BetaCup would work with the local government to deploy cup collection stackers at all public trash cans. Collection could either be carried out by BetaCup workers, or by the local waste collection service.
• BetaCup would establish contracts with commercial real estate management to have them deploy cup collection points within their buildings to recover the cups disposed of in office buildings, and to have their janitorial staff bag the cups.
• The cups collected by the janitorial services in commercial real estate and by the local government would be exchanged with BetaCup for either a monetary incentive, or for credits redeemable at participating cafe?s.
Our solution involves multiple phases for the deployment of this service, the cup collection points, and the establishment of washing facilities and distribution centers. We will cover each of these aspects in the following sections.
Loss Ratio, and Cup Collection
The loss ratio (the rate at which reusable cups are not returned) is one of the crucial factors that will make or break the cost-effectiveness of our system. Since the cups will cost more than disposable paper cups to manufacture, the rate at which they must be replaced must be kept to a minimum; if too many get thrown away or stolen, both the business and environmental incentives behind adopting reusable cups will be defeated.
Pervasive deployment of collection points for maximal waste reduction
Our system brings the best return on investment when it is scaled up to serve as many cafe? businesses as possible. Once the overhead investment of automated sorting washing and sorting facilities has been established, there is no reason it should be limited to one company’s use. Our system can improve on its return on investment by marketing the system to other cafe? chains and businesses looking to go green, thereby reducing the most waste.
Recommended Approach
Since Starbucks is the cafe? chain with the capital and widespread establishment large enough to initiate such a program, Starbucks must play a leadership role in the BetaCup/URCS. We recommend the formation of a Starbucks co-owned company for handling all services; this subsidiary (which we call BetaCup for the purpose of this presentation) would market the collection, washing, and delivery service, equipment, and brand-customized cups to all cafe?s within serviceable range of a washing facility.
Why a neutral third party?
Other cafe?s may be reluctant to join any service that lets Starbucks make money off of them. A subsidiary whose affiliation with Starbucks is hidden or at least a separate company identity is more likely to achieve widespread adoption. Widespread adoption is absolutely essential to minimizing the loss ratio outside of captive environments and ensuring the success of this program, while having the biggest waste reduction impact.
Captive Environments
In order to minimize the loss ratio, we recommend deploying the system in captive environments first, until widespread publicity and deployment of collection units makes it practical to deploy everywhere. A captive environment is one where the cups used by customers are likely to be disposed of within a recoverable range of the store that sent them out. One example would be the parts of airport terminals after security clearance and before the gates; coffee cups used in this area are almost certainly going to be disposed of in this area or on the planes. Malls and book stores are, to a lesser extent, captive environments as well. Deploying in captive environments first helps ensure the success of this program. Deployment of the UCRS system in airports would also entail contracting with the airlines to return collected cups either for a fee or for other incentives.
The Product Involved
The product aspect of our solution is based on two product designs: a reusable stackable cup with an attached lid, a design for two types of collection units, and a tool for easily bagging the stacked cups. Unfortunately, we do not have the resources at hand to provide a design for the automated stacked-cup washing system which is crucial to the success of our proposed solution, since designing such a device involves machine design, engineering, and operations research and is cost prohibitive to develop given the time limits of this competition.
The Cup
Our design requirements for the reusable cup are intended to eliminate the inconvenience of having the customer keep and wash the cup by making it easy and cost effective to shift this responsibility to the cup reuse company. By purposely designing the cup to look mundane, the user is not led to feel that the cup is his–in fact, the cup is the property of the cafe? that issued it, for example, Starbucks. Besides the use of durable materials in appropriate thicknesses, the cup looks no different from a conventional Starbucks cup with the exception of a hinge holding the lid to the cup. The hinge should be softly spring-loaded so that it flips open for ease of stacking upside down.
In order for the stacking and collection system to work cost effectively, the reusable cups should only come in one size. Multiple sizes interfere with efficient stacking necessary for cost effective collection and automated washing. Based on our rough estimation of drink size popularity by observing customers at the local Starbucks, the ideal cup size for this effort would be the Starbucks Grande size (16 oz.) Smaller drinks can be served in the same cup, but Venti (20 oz) drinks would still be served in disposable cups; making all of the reusable cups venti-sized would be a waste of materials, and make the cups inconveniently large for everyone not drinking a venti sized drink. Even with the continued use of Venti-sized cups, under our system, the vast majority of disposable cups would be eliminated in areas served by our proposed service.
Injection-Molded Plastic
Design Requirements
Specific design elements of the cup include the use of texturing on the outside to hide scratches, internal ribs to keep the cups from getting stuck together, and a slightly recessed smooth area compatible with dry erase markers for the baristas to mark down coffee preferences (just like the paper Starbucks cups). The recessing of the smooth area is to prevent scratches; if knocked over, the smooth area would not come in contact with any surface that may scratch it. Besides this, there is little else that needs to be done to make the cup reusable; the real breakthrough is not in making the cup reusable, but in making the collection of used cups convenient and thorough. For the sake of being environmentally responsible, the cups should be made of a recyclable material so that damaged cups can be removed from circulation without contributing yet another source of trash.
Acetylated Paper Cups
Paper has proven itself to be an excellent material for making inexpensive cups in mass quantities, as the present widespread use of paper cups demonstrates. If such a cup could be made washable and durable enough to withstand reuse, it could be an ideal candidate for a cost effective mass produced reusable cup. To this end, we propose the use of acetylation for the creation of durable washable paper cups.
A recently developed technology known as wood acetylation makes such a prospect possible, making a reusable paper cup potentially cost competitive if not superior to plastic reusable cups. Acetylation involves reacting wood or paper with acetic anhydride, a pre-cursor to acetic acid (which, in its dilute form, is known as vinegar.) Acetylated cellulose is not prone to rotting and being digested by bacteria, is much more dimensionally stable, and has its ability to absorb water greatly reduced. Unlike some plastics, acetylated paper can be safely and easily incinerated, and is not made of petroleum.
Because the cup must be durable enough to be reusable, the card stock used to make the cup ought to be made significantly thicker. The cup can be made using conventional paper cup manufacturing processes, with the added step of acetylation of the paper. Whether acetylation is best done before or after the paper has been rolled into cup form requires some research and testing on the part of the cup manufacturers and the providers of acetylation equipment. Once the cup has been acetylated, notches ought to be cut into the lower rim of the cup to facilitate drainage when the cup is dried upside down. (See these sites for more information on wood acetylating technology:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/wood-bridge-in-netherlands.php http://www.accoya.com/technology_the_process.html )
The Collection Unit
We recognize that in order to make reusable cups compelling for a corporation such as Starbucks, the collection and washing of the cups must be made cost effective, especially when compared to disposable cups. What “cost effective” translates to in this case is “fast and cheap”; any aspect involving human labor must be made so easy that unskilled labor can do the job, and anything that can be automated should be. To that end, the collection unit we devised collects the cups in a stacked manner, making collection a matter of slipping a slender bag over the stack and lifting the stack out of the collector.
The collection unit (see slide 9) was designed to be conspicuous, attractive, self explanatory to use, and easy to unload. The column is flared on top to provide the user a fairly large target into which he may drop his used cup. The slot on the front guides all the cups into the ideal stacking position with no effort on the part of the user except that he pop open the lid and drop the cup in upside-down. A bucket under the column collects any left-over liquids from the cups. The inside of the column would be colored brown to hide any unsightly coffee stains, and the ample surfaces on the flared area and the column’s exterior could be used for branding purposes or for advertising.
The collection units were designed to be easy to empty as well; the cup collector would fit a long slender bag over the column of cups, and lift the column of cups up and out. Perhaps a small tool could be designed to assist this process. The idea is that the stacked cups could be stacked into a magazine feeding an automated washing machine at a washing facility. From our study of the mechanical handling of individual products, we believe stacked magazines of cups would be the easiest way to feed an automated washing machine for rapid automated washing.
Contracting with commercial real estate and local governments for collection
Our observations and informal research suggests that much of the coffee purchased at cafes in the morning are consumed at work places, where the disposable cups are subsequently thrown away. Our recommendation to mitigate the loss ratio of cups in areas with high office density, such as down town San Francisco (which also has a rather high cafe? density, including many Starbucks locations) is for BetaCup to establish cup collection contracts with commercial real estate managers. The contracts should entail the installation of cup collection units throughout the building at every trash can. Their janitorial staff should be equipped with collection bags and tools, and exchange the collected cups for either a monetary or coffee incentive for the occupants of the building on a pre-determined schedule.
Similar contracts ought to be established with local governments and local waste management services for collecting cups from out-door trash cans within the service district of each washing facility .
To help offset the cost of deploying all of those cup collection devices, we recommend selling advertising on the cup collection units.
Collecting cups outside of the service district of washing facilities,
Combining our solution with other BetaCup solutions In order to collect cups that end up outside of the range of a service district or the service range of a cup washing facility, we recommend combining our submission with one or more of the BetaCup submissions that incentivize the collection and return of reusable cups. If an incentive system is set up to get people to return cups from outside the range of a washing facility, there ought to be policies in place to keep track of the people who return cups from outside the service districts in order to prevent the abuse of any incentive system to keep the whole operation cost effective.
Conclusion
We believe that with a carefully planned, thoroughly publicized, and well capitalized launch, the UCRS system, along with its equipment, branding services, collection and washing services, and advertisement services can serve as a cost effective and profitable way to reduce the use of disposable paper cups while still retaining the convenience that coffee consumers love.
€20,000 Overall Community Prize
to be defined Sold Idea
Product Design: Help reduce waste from coffee-to-go paper cups and come up with sustainable solutions!
Closed
Announced
Submission Period (61 Days)
-
What is jovoto?
A global platform to enable creative excellence through mass collaboration.
Get challenged by contests for big brands, international companies and NGOs.
Work in an inspiring environment with thousands of other talented creatives.
Get into a sustainable deal: fair copyright handling, high prize money and the community decides who wins the prizes.
Useful?
soulmovement
Good stuff guys. ^_^
-Ryan
Useful?
bonibom
Useful?
sweetmelissa9978
You have a well thought out , thorough presentation. I'm not sure about the cost of implementing these collection systems and washing systems, but I like the "Captive Environments" approach to test the waters.
There may also be a problem with wear and tear with the use of a softly spring loaded attached lid. Especially at the time of collection due to the use of a bag as the vehicle for collection. There is a lot involved for there to be success with this approach. But that's what it's going to if we big change : )
Have you had the chance to review /rate my submission? I would greatly appreciate it.http://www.jovoto.com/contests/drink-sustainably/ideas/4793
Useful?
sweetmelissa9978
That is what it is going to take , if we want to see a big change! Oh my! Looks like I need a cup of coffee!!!
Useful?
Janne
What might people hinder is reading your concept - it´s quite long and for a non-English speaker like me this is quite exhausting to read. But I hope it will be recognized further as it has potential. Good luck!