It's a fact that oceans are choking from plastic. This is a menace that seems to have no end! Single-use plastic is one among the most time-consuming things to get rid of, but their use does not seem to slow down. So what does a boy from Germany do to save the world from the devil of the single-use coffee cups?
Kaffeeform is the start-up company of Julian Lechner from Berlin that uses coffee grounds to make reusable coffee cups. Check out the video below to learn more about this amazing company!
While we all enjoy our cuppa, the US alone generates 120 billion single-use coffee cups annually. So imagine the waste generated with the entire world consuming their share of coffee, not only creating the non-biodegradable cups but also heaps of coffee grounds.
In 2009, while studying product design, Lechner noticed how much coffee he and his peers consumed every day. The average person in Germany consumes 14 pounds of coffee beans yearly. Almost 99 percent of all coffee cups are turned to the trash and even paper cups may take more than 20 years to decompose properly.
So Lechner intended to reuse the disposed of coffee grounds to produce eco-friendly coffee cups. Another startup, Crow Cycle Courier Collective, is also involved in the mission of saving Earth. The Collective gathers approximately 110 pounds of coffee grounds every day, which is then cleaned in Kaffeeform workshops.
They're then sent to a different facility to dry and blend with things like plant fibers, natural resins, and beechwood grains. Intense pressure and heat compress six cups of coffee grounds to make one cup and saucer. The finished products are 100 percent biodegradable and 40 percent coffee grounds.
Lechner’s success lies in how twenty of Berlin’s coffee shops use his products along with 150 odd vendors across Europe. The future for the company lies in Lechner’s vision of producing not only cups but to extend into furniture and lifestyle product production. And it’s all from the remains of our coffee!
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