Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Seeley. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Good To Go Cups was started by Melissa Seeley and Michelle Horan. We are two women with a passion for environmental sustainability. We have 17 years of experience working in sustainability from starting an organics program in a school district to working with local government on a variety of environmental initiatives. We also have years of experience in sales, marketing, and finance from our former careers.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Translating passion into a viable business is challenging, but our mission to reduce waste and normalize reuse keeps us moving forward despite any obstacles. We work hard to communicate the Good To Go Cups story to coffee shops and potential customers. Finding the proper decision-makers in the coffee shop can be difficult, but once we explain the win-win of cost savings from purchasing fewer single-use cups and the positive environmental impact they are usually on board.
We have tried many avenues to interface with potential customers, from tabling at events to chatting with people at our partner shops. It is an uphill battle against the convenience of disposables. However, once customers try our cup exchange program, they realize how easy it is to embrace reuse versus single-use.
We’ve been impressed with Good To Go Cups, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We both love coffee and hate the number of single-use coffee cups that seem present wherever we look, that fill up the trash cans, and that cannot be recycled or composted. We talked many times about tackling the problem in which we participated. We immersed ourselves in circular economy research and realized that the next movement in sustainability is reuse.
All data suggests we cannot recycle our way out of our current waste problem. We are at the forefront of a paradigm shift into the circular economy where reuse is key. Recognizing that reuse is fundamental to our future sustainability, we chose one small area to address that we hope will have a big impact. We designed and manufactured a unique reusable cup used in a cup exchange program at participating coffee shops. Customers purchase a membership through our app which allows for 50 uses of our cup. Our app makes it easy to get your drink in a Good To Go Cup, take the cup to-go and exchange it on your next visit to any participating shop for a new drink in a clean Good To Go Cup. Our cup will never become waste because when the cup reaches the end of life it will be ground up to make new cups.
Our fully closed-loop model is unlike any other and sets us apart from the competition. We have partnered with 12 Minnesota coffee shops, one in Wisconsin, one in Texas, and two in Sedona, Arizona. We are very excited about our newest partnership with shops in Breckenridge, Colorado! We aim to create a convenient reuse option for locals and visitors alike.
Our value proposition to coffee shops is savings on single-use cup purchases and waste hauling fees. Customers download our app to purchase a membership in our cup exchange program which makes reuse easy and convenient. Customers also enjoy discounts at most participating shops on each drink for using a reusable cup. These discounts reduce the membership fee over the 50 cup uses. We are working hard to ensure a greater embrace of reuse and the subsequent reduction in the ubiquitous waste of single-use coffee cups.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check out?
The Circular Economy podcast from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and The Indisposable Podcast from Upstream are always filled with information and insights about the circular economy and reuse.
Pricing:
- $19.99 for 50 cup uses
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.goodtogocups.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodtogocups/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085211307024
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/good-to-go-cups/
Image Credits
Michelle Horan
