If that claim is true, then we are literally plastic smothering the globe in coffee cup lids every year and that's before we get started on all our other rubbish. I knew I hated those things, but that is ridiculous.
This time last year, New York based Tom Chan, Alexis Kandra and Kaanur Papo launched Unocup - a disposable coffee cup that doesn't require a lid, on Kickstarter and raised enough money to get into production.
The cup is simple. You literally fold and tuck it into place and it functions way more safely that the old cup and lid design.
The team have spent years developing a beautifully designed, ergonomically mindful beverage cup with a top that folds using origami principals to eliminate the need for a plastic lid. Invented in the 1960s, it is amazing that it took 60 years to design something this obvious - and so needed.
It all started in 2015, when frustrated by the amount of waste on the streets, Tom Chan came up with an idea for a new paper coffee cup that eliminates plastic lids. The cup prototypes were made and garnered a lot of attention. They won a $100k prize in the international design contest. New Plastics Economy Innovation supported by Open IDEO and Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
But it took a few more years and several hundred prototypes to come up with the cup that went live on Kickstarter this time last year. Hopefully the rest is history and you will see them in coffee shops everywhere.
Of course, it's always better to use a reusable!