We were told about Vapur via a good friend and advisor to the betacup, Ryan Fix and we absolutely love it.

According to their website Vapur is the most portable refillable water bottle on the planet. And by making tap water more portable, they hope to make bottled water obsolete.

What we like about their approach is that they have created a product that is both sexy and desirable, as well as functional and convenient.

From their website:

“Unlike rigid water bottles, Vapur is completely collapsible. This means it goes more places and fits in tighter spaces than any other bottle. Whether you are hiking the trails, passing through airport security or visiting the museum with your family, Vapur makes water infinitely portable.”

What do you think?  What would the coffee carrying equivalent look like?

Hopefully when we enter into the design phase of the betacup, we’ll see ideas as innovative and exciting as Vapur.

We of course welcome your feedback. How should we be approaching the problems identified? Who and what should we be highlighting on this site and should Toby consider a career as television presenter or perhaps even a film star? Enjoy!

Betacup from the betacup on Vimeo.

My friend was quick to point out that a reusable cup or flask was probably a better alternative.  A fair point, I thought, but I had tried this approach before and while bringing my own cup to Starbucks (or where ever I purchase my coffee) was obvious, it wasn’t convenient.

Like a lot of people I spend my going from one meeting to the next, grabbing the occasional coffee on the go.  The likelihood therefore, of me carrying a bulky flask or coffee mug on my daily outings was slim to none.

With a kernel of an idea and fire in my belly, I began researching coffee consumption and the impact that paper coffee cups are having on the environment.

As I picked my way through mountains of research and data I was struck by some fairly alarming facts:

• 58 billion paper cups are thrown away (not recycled) every year
• 20 million trees are cut down in the process of manufacturing paper cups
• The amount of water used in the process is approximately 12 billion gallons

What amazed me about this data, was what it represented in terms total energy used.  According to the Environmental Defense Organization, we could power 53,000 homes with the energy we consume through our paper cup consumption.

Another alarming fact that I uncovered was the amount of water used in the process of creating one single cup of latte, which according to the World Wildlife Fund is more than 200 liters (52 Gallons).

Watch this video from the WWF for a full explanation:

So, the facts (problems) as I understood them when I began this process were threefold:

1. Paper cups create massive amounts of solid waste and consume vital natural resources in the manufacturing process

2. Drinking coffee uses large qualities of water from harvesting to distribution

3. Reusable cups do not represent a convenient solution and are not being widely adopted by consumers

In a chance meeting with Shaun Abrahamson and Marcel Botha from Mutopo I threw out an idea of launching an initiative that aimed to reduce the impact paper cups were having on the environment. They were equally astonished by the data, and being hardened coffee drinkers, felt compelled to help me figure out a better and more convenient solution.

Mutopo are an incredibly interesting company.  In the past few years they have been working on a strategy that applies crowdsourcing methodologies to large scale business and design problems.  They suggested applying their methodologies to the problems that I had identified with a view of crowdsourcing the solution.

And so the betacup project was born.

At this stage our mission is simple: To reduce the environmental impact of coffee drinking by creating better and more sustainable solutions through crowdsourced design and community activism.

We are very much at the beginning of what we hope will become a movement and active community of like minded and socially and environmentally conscious activists.

As we start out of this journey we are inviting participation and all levels and feedback from anyone who has an idea for how we can achieve our goal.

To learn more about the project and to understand how we intend on tackling the problems we’ve identified, check out the About section within this site.

Also, follow us on Twitter and connect with us on Facebook.  Help us drink sustainably!