A Bay Area-based tech company is trying to cut down on plastic waste by turning to clay cups.
GaeaStar, which is based in San Francisco and Berlin, points out that about 500 billion coffee cups are disposed of globally each year, but just about 1% are actually recycled.
To tackle the issue, the company 3D prints reusable cups that are made of clay, water and salt.
The cups can also be discarded in the trash, where they will eventually disintegrate into dust.
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"This is what we call a new category," GaeaStar founder and CEO Sanjeev Mankotia said. "It's not your expensive ceramic mug or your Stanley metal mug and it's not your single-use throwaway. It's in between. The whole idea is that you're getting the convenience of disposability but the user experience and the drinking experience of ceramics. It's in the middle."
GaeaStar is partnering with California-based coffee company Verve Coffee Roasters to debut the clay cups in the Bay Area.
The clay cups are now available at Verve locations in Palo Alto, Santa Cruz and Los Angeles.
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Customers who come back to reuse their cups will get discounts.
