ISSUE 47 — JUN 2019
Oh my Gourd! Trying to create fresh and new sustainable solutions can be a difficult thing, but this company has managed to do exactly that. For all the coffee drinkers out there, this could be the next thing to hit your local café! You may be aware that the majority of takeaway coffee cups used in cafes are not recyclable — they are made from a mix of paper and plastic and coated with a leak-proof layer that means that they cannot be broken down easily. And although there has been a big push for consumers to make the move toward reusable coffee cups, those of us who accidentally left our mugs at home are stuck with the options of getting a non-recyclable cup or going without. But what if there were another way? A company called Crème Design in the USA have created a solution — coffee cups that are grown from gourds. It may seem impossible but using 3D moulds these innovators have been able to shape the fruit to grow into a cup-shape that becomes a perfect receptacle when picked.
They say they got their idea from the Japanese and their inventive use of moulds to shape watermelons into cubes which are easier to stack. Using gourds to store liquids is not a completely unheard of idea, in ancient societies they were dried out and used for exactly this purpose. But by creating a sustainable, renewable, and compostable substitute for the coffee cup, Crème Design has made it a bit easier to live a waste free lifestyle in the modern era — and although this product is still in the design phase, we’re sure this innovative company will get the funding they need for research and development. Maybe we’ll get lucky and it won’t be too long until they hit Australian shores — one can only hope!
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