Bettercup: The Female-Led Business Reducing Single-Use Plastic at Australian Events

PRESS RELEASE

Bettercup cofounders Christie Kamphuis and Sam Stone met in 2007 at a concert where they connected due to their love of all things music and entertainment.

With their shared passion and uniting belief that they could be part of creating a better world, they came together in the hope of doing away with wasteful, single-use plastic for good at the events they so loved attending together.

Disposable plastic products, such as single-use plastic cups, have a long lasting and often unconsidered devastating impact on the environment, sitting for years in landfill or floating around in the seas causing havoc to the marine eco-system.

Through hard work, research, determination and resilience, Kamphuis and Stone launched Bettercup in 2016 in Melbourne, a reusable plastic bar cup available for hire or purchase.

With an offering of customised or Bettercup branded bar cups in a range of sizes, self-funded, Kamphuis and Stone have collaborated with some of Australia’s biggest players in the hopes of reducing Australia’s plastic footprint.

Clients to date include The City of Melbourne, Melbourne Fashion Week, The Canberra Comedy Festival, Monash University, St. George Open Air Cinema, Tasmania’s Party in the Paddock and Dark MOFO Festival, who they supplied 28,000 reusable cups last June, and demand is only growing with new events scheduled for 2019 across Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, Queensland, Byron Bay and Tasmania.

“Moving to reusable bar cups is one of the key changes event organisers can make to minimise single use plastic and limit unnecessary waste and recourses. We are so encouraged to see that our cups are being adopted by more and more events every year,” said founder Christie Kamphuis.

With Bettercup, St George Open Air Cinemas in Sydney diverted 50,000 single-use cups from landfill over nineteen nights in their 2019 season.

The dynamic duo also work with event organisers on tailored washing solutions, either onsite at the event or back at the Bettercup Melbourne headquarters, where a majority of their cups are made and stored for client’s future events.

“We are so passionate about shining a light on the devastating environmental effects of single use plastic and helping to change behaviours with a diverse range of audiences across Australia,” said Bettercup co-founder, Sam Stone.

Already the pair have gained recognition within the sustainability sector, winning the ‘City of Yarra Sustainability Award in Business for 2018’, an award that recognises commercial and social enterprises that have minimised negative environmental impacts and maximised positive contributions to Yarra’s environment and community.

Bettercup is also part of the Sustainable Event Alliance, a global affiliation of organisations, events and individuals who are focusing on improving the sustainability outcomes of events. Together they are committed to harnessing the powerful opportunity to advance and promote sustainable development through events.

“We are all responsible for the safe-keeping of our planet and we as consumers have the power to spread the message of sustainability and demand businesses within Australia to put an end to single use plastics,” continued Stone.

Bettercup also repurpose any broken or unwanted custom cups post event into new products including flower pots and wheelie bins and plan to launch at home party cups later in the year.

For more information, visit bettercup.com.au.

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