KeepCup
“Many small acts make a phenomenal difference.”
KeepCup
by Abigail Forsyth
Abigail Forsyth
KeepCup
KeepCup is the brand that is synonymous with creating the reuse culture we see around the world today. The first brand to launch and trial reusable coffee cups for take-out customers.
Siblings Abigail and Jamie Forsyth opened up a cafe in 1998, unhappy with the amount of disposable cups ending up in the trash, they decided something needed to be done. They had trialed successfully to have customers use home mugs to take-away coffee – but this was not an ideal solution - coffee can spill whilst walking.
So the siblings took a gamble and researched and experimented with designing a purpose built cup. The cup they designed needed to be easy and quick for barista's to use and must allowing the customer to take their coffee away with ease.
The KeepCup was born, and is now one of the most recognisable brands in Australia, Europe, the UK and USA - used by millions of coffee lovers, saving 8 billion disposable cups per year.
The Beginning
When Jamie and Abigail Forsyth started a café business in Melbourne in 1998, disposable cups were entering the public landscape; the signifier of a busy professional life and a vibrant independent coffee scene.
As the business grew, so did their concerns about the volume of packaging being consumed, particularly disposable cups; lined with polyethylene, they were non-recyclable.
In 2007, following unsuccessful trials of existing reusable cups, they decided to design and make their own – a barista standard reusable cup for people to enjoy better coffee on the go.
They took a huge gamble that usability, sustainable manufacturing practice and design aesthetics could drive behaviour change and make a difference to how people think about convenience culture.
The first KeepCups were sold to coffee-loving Melbournians nearly ten years ago at a small, underground design market. The reuse movement grew from there, with the support of the café and roaster community endorsing change.
The goal was always to kick start behaviour change, from discard to reuse – to deliver a positive global campaign that would change the status quo. KeepCup has grown from a solution to a problem, to define a product category.
Today, KeepCups are used in more than 65 countries around the world. KeepCup users divert millions of disposable cups from landfill every day, and through their actions inspire others to do the same.
People purchase KeepCups because they love the way they look and feel, and continue to use them because they form a positive habit.
For many of our customers, it has been the beginning of a journey to reduce the consequences of convenience behaviour.
For a while there, carrying a KeepCup was like being in a secret club; a nod to aspirational behaviour for the world. With this positive change established in the mainstream, we now have a greater responsibility to continue to change the sustainability conversation in word and deed.
You are a changemaker. The things you say and ways you live are charting the course for our future.
Thanks for being you. Let’s steer this thing somewhere wonderful.
