Shiny new product could overhaul how the world drinks beer
Another single-use plastic item could soon be replaced at venues with a readily recyclable alternative.
Those red plastic beer cups that have spread from the United States around the globe to countries like Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand could be finished. They take 450 years to break down in the environment and few are ever recycled, but a new start-up has a bold alternative.
It’s an old-school material that taught anyone growing up in the 1980s or 1990s to recycle — aluminium. And it can infinitely be melted down and formed into new cups.
Acknowledging that single-use cups aren’t going away any time soon, Paul Kradin founded the start-up LumiCup — creating aluminium single-use drinking cups, ideal for events where glass is problematic. The brand has just launched in the US, and if all goes well it’ll be rolled out internationally.
“The red cup is the epitome of the problem… and we really feel like it’s time for those to go,” he told Yahoo News.
Key facts you should know:
75 per cent of aluminium ever created is still in use today
Only 9 per cent of plastics are recycled
Close to 80 per cent of plastics are directed to landfill or are littered in the environment
How bad is the world's plastic problem?
Global plastic use is skyrocketing. In the 1950s the world used around 2 million tonnes. Today, it’s estimated at 464 million tonnes, and it's predicted to reach 884 million tonnes by 2050.
Not only is the substance choking our oceans, because it’s made from a fossil fuel its production could stop the world from reaching net zero emissions. One recent prediction suggested it could consume 20 per cent of global oil production — roughly 15 per cent of the expected carbon emissions budget.
Over the last four years, there’s been an uptick in businesses using fully disposable cups even when patrons dine in since the Covid-19 pandemic sparked concerns about hygiene. While that fear has since ebbed, there’s another reason diners often want single-use.
“In our market, [plastic cups have] saturated virtually every use that you can imagine, restaurants, hospitality, venues and events — you know they're on planes, trains and automobiles,” Kradin said.
“There's a real convenience culture that we contend with here, where people want to do the mindful thing, but they also want to do the quick thing,” he added.
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How much do the aluminium cups cost?
Some of the first cups off the production line were sent to Yahoo's office in Australia for testing. They looked great, and kept our drinks cooler than plastic alternatives. Unfortunately, they did dent quickly, and due to food regulations, they are required to have a thin coating of plastic on the inside, similar to what you'd have with a paper coffee cup.
The cups will initially be more expensive than plastic cups, but that’s expected to be temporary as LumiCup scales up production.
A 16-ounce plastic cup retails in the United States for US10 to 12 cents, and LumiCup is closer to 30 cents.
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But it could be argued we should expect to pay more if switching to aluminium benefits us as a society. Plastic is now infesting the air, oceans, fish and animals. And it is found in human breastmilk, reproductive organs and our brains.
The world’s leaders are clearly failing to effectively tackle the problem. Talks to create a global plastics treaty concluded this week in South Korea without a binding agreement to reduce them. The United States, China and large oil-producing nations like Saudi Arabia have demonstrated little ambition to reach a consensus on production.
Big business also isn’t living up to its promised plastic reduction targets for 2025. This week, Coca-Cola, one of the world’s biggest plastic polluters, announced it was abandoning its plan to reduce its use.
So, reducing plastic use could come down to new ideas coming from start-ups, and changing consumer behaviour.
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