NEW CHAPTER FOR SCHOOL
It’s the bane of all those who want to drink coffee on the run and be environmentally-friendly.
When and how do you clean that reusable plastic coffee cup that you bought in an effort to save the world from being swamped with single use paper cups?
So a New Plymouth industrial design graduate decided to find a solution.
‘‘Most people who buy a coffee and use the plastic re-usable cup tend to leave the cup in the car unwashed,’’ Massey University School of Design honours graduate Jack Anderson said.
He and design course colleague Jeremy Gardiner set out to find a way to easily clean cups or plastic water bottles to be ready for the next flat white or moccachino, rather than gathering mould in a car or at the bottom of a bag.
As part of the final year design course assessment the pair put their heads together and came up with rinse and refill wash system, to be located at service stations, which would clean the cup while the owner waited.
The idea, which took a year’s study to complete, would cut down on wastage of plastic cups and bottles being taken to landfills, estimated to be 2.5 million every hour worldwide, he said.
‘‘Our research found 43 per cent of people only use the cups once.
‘‘If we can get people to use the re-usable cups more often we won’t get the wastage in landfills.’’
‘‘Most plastic drink bottles and cups get a bit manky after three weeks of use.’’
Although the design is only in the prototype stage they have already approached Z Energy with the concept to gauge interest.
‘‘The feedback had been positive so far but we need to do more work on costings,’’ Anderson said.
Anderson said similar recycling systems were available at events such as the Womad music festival, where the cup can be taken back to seller at the end of the event.
‘‘We think we go one better and have designed our system to focus on daily use.’’