Starbucks Teams Up With Beta Cup Competition

Convenience culture has spawned a consumption nightmare. In fact, according to betacup, 58 billion paper cups are consumed in America every single year creating 60% of the worlds total cup wastage. Most subsequently find their way to a landfill.

Enter betacup, a design competition that is looking to crowdsource the next great ideas for the most sustainable "to-go cup." Starbucks will provide $20,000 in cash prizes, with a $10,000 cash prize going to the winner. Other sponsors of betacup include design magazine, Core77, creative marketplace called Jovoto.com and Publicis division, Denuo.

"Given the complexity of the disposable cup waste issue, we need a broad range of stakeholders to become involved in finding solutions. In addition to working with local municipal governments, materials suppliers and cup manufacturers to improve recycling infrastructures, we believe in harnessing the creativity of environmentally conscious individuals to identify new alternatives," said Jim Hanna, Starbucks director of Environmental Impact. "We're looking forward to seeing how people respond to the challenge."

Starbucks' stated goal is to make 100% of Starbucks cups reusable or recyclable by 2015.

The contest will take place on the betacup's partner platform jovoto.com and is open to anyone who has an idea on how to reduce paper cup consumption and promote adoption of environmentally-friendly alternatives.

Check out this video from Toby Daniels, co-founder of the BetaCup contest:

Betacup from the betacup on Vimeo.