Thinking Through Semi-Durable Drinkware Options; Innovations & Potential.

Analyst Buzz on this topic:

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/climate-in-crisis/new-plastic-free-clay-cups-aim-to-reduce-waste/3518269/?amp=1

New plastic-free clay cups aim to reduce waste

These are exactly like the ones they use in India to serve tea. They had us throw them in the Ganges river afterwards. I think they are called Bhar. We were primarily in Kolkata, so I am not sure how widespread their use is. We didn't see them much in Goa, but we were only there for a few days. I think the Ganges river has a lot of clay, so the material is widely available in Kolkata. 

The manufacturing process is a little different in India than in this case, of course!

I wonder how much faster it is to 3D print them.

The entire original process in India seems to be by hand, so it has to be significantly faster. 

Yes, 3D printing is significantly faster than making by hand.  "GaeaStar's long-term goal is to put its patent-pending 3D-printers in shops around the US, where cups could be printed on-demand in about 10 seconds." https://www.cnet.com/news/the-coffee-cups-made-from-dirt-smash-them-on-the-ground-and-walk-away/

We talked about these guys in December... a client mentioned seeing things like this growing quickly in California (from a small base, of course) as regional coffee operators were looking at them as a fairly durable, but totally degradable alternative to plastic/paper and cheaper than a durable ceramic cup

This is where my brain starts into overload. Imagine if all the coffee places did this -- how many trees we could save, and litter/trash we could prevent?

Here are all the states with the most clay deposits Clay Mining In The United States | The Diggings^™

I can imagine an on-demand (and customizable?) cup inventory being something that foodservice operators would like to have, Considering how much space stacks of drinkware and tableware takes up in a restaurant... would the stocks of clay and the machine itself take up less space?

I think the only issue would be lids.  I know if I'm traveling (walking, driving) with a cup of coffee I would need something.   

A reusable lid would be a lot easier to tuck in your pocket than lugging a reusable cup around.

That's true! And even if there's no solution for lids, you'd still be winning with the cups.

Reliability is an issue though. Remember all the bad buzz that operators get if they have ice cream/shake machines that don’t reliably work?

Right, if it’s an on-demand machine that a service business relies on, it has to work and it has to work all the time! They’re going to have to do some serious durability testing to ensure that the 3D cup printing machines can withstand heavy day-to-day use in high-traffic environments.

For more information see our studies, particularly US Foodservice Single-Use Products and Latin America Foodservice Disposables.