Free fills boost reusable cup use

Ryan Everton wants to save the planet, one beer, or one cup of coffee at a time.

The University of Otago student was the winner of last year's Audacious Business Challenge, winning $8000 for developing the Globelet, a reusable plastic cup.

Fast forward nearly five months and Mr Everton (21) has taken his Globelet to the next stage of attracting sponsorship, convincing cafes and bars to provide free coffee and beer for people with the Globelet and getting 250,000 of the cups manufactured to present to tourists arriving at Christchurch Airport.

This weekend, Mr Everton will have his Globelet at an eco-festival in North Harbour, which he hopes will spark further interest in his cup.

Giving the cups to arriving tourists was about trying to shift them to using tap water while they were in New Zealand, rather than buying bottled water, he said in an interview.

A friend and business partner, Thomas Veerbeck, had designed an app that showed users with smartphones where the nearest drinking water fountains were and also the cafes and bars prepared to provide the coffee and beer.

''The goal is to get more cafes and bars on board and get councils to provide more drinking-water fountains. We want to change the industry in a different way.''

A Facebook page let cup users post their photos and have the chance to win prizes. Obtaining large sponsorship was the next step. Some sponsors were already paying for runs of 40,000 Globelets. Others were paying for about 5000.

One of the selling points for Mr Everton was that the Globelets were made out of N5 plastic, which was fully recyclable in New Zealand and had a long life. Each Globelet could survive 1000 commercial dishwasher cycles.

Asked about how the project came into being, Mr Everton said his French girlfriend had talked about a similar product used in France. He had some of the French products sent over and started designing his own.

The first sponsor was former Otago rugby coach Laurie Mains, with GJ Gardner Homes.

Mr Everton obtained a commission with Forsyth Barr Stadium, where the cups were available in corporate boxes for a $2 deposit. If the cup was taken home, the $2 was put towards further sustainable projects. If it was handed back, people got back their $2.

When a French tourist stayed with Mr Everton, she told him the design of the cups was ''disgusting'' and set about designing the latest models.

Now, Frenchwomen Raphaelle Demery and Helene Lompech are part of the organisation as it pushes into its next production phase.

Mr Everton hopes to be able to use the Air New Zealand social network to promote the cup globally, with the idea of having a ''New Zealand night'' in various bars or cafes on a set date in the month for tourists who kept their cups.