Disposable plastic and paper cups are an environmental<\/a> mess<\/a>. GaeaStar<\/a>, a startup based in Berlin and San Francisco, thinks it can do better with just clay, water, salt and sand.<\/p>\n After piloting disposable clay cups and bowls in Germany, GaeaStar says it is gearing up to introduce its products to the U.S. via a trial with Verve<\/a> (the California coffee chain, not<\/em> the band<\/a>).<\/p>\n To make the disposable containers, the startup says it developed a special 3D-printer that churns them out in \u201c30 seconds or less.\u201d The company declined to share photos of the printer, which it described as patent pending. There\u2019s nothing new about clay, and in a statement, GaeaStar acknowledged as much, saying it was \u201cinspired by ancient Indian culture.\u201d<\/p>\n To fund its Verve pilot and future collaborations in the U.S., GaeaStar rolled together a $6.5 million seed round from investors such as Morningside and Dart Labs.<\/p>\n Through an environmental lens, the U.S.\u2019s single-use cup problem shares some commonalities with its single-occupancy vehicle problem. In each case, a relatively new, inefficient behavior now seems totally ingrained in society. Whether you\u2019re talking about transporting iced lattes in plastic cups or people in metal eggs, there are better ways of moving such things around, if only folks would behave differently. But will people change, and do they want to?<\/p>\n This is a silly thought experiment, but there\u2019s something interesting about where it falls apart: Replacing a ton of cars with public transit requires, like, real work \u2014 including vast infrastructure development and rethinking where and how many of us live. On the other hand, killing disposable cups demands that folks tote around reusable canteens. This sounds . . . comparably pretty easy.<\/p>\n Yet, change is hard at any scale, and so we look for alternatives. We electrify single-occupancy vehicles and build ostensibly better disposable cups, striving to mitigate the damage we do without really changing much about how we live. Some people<\/a> consider such compromises<\/a> a distraction<\/a>, but in the case of disposable cups, GaeaStar founder Sanjeev Mankotia calls this meeting people \u201cwhere they are.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the reality of Western culture that people are constantly on the go and are now accustomed to disposability vs. carrying around a reusable mug,\u201d Mankotia told TechCrunch over email. \u201cWe know recycling doesn\u2019t work and our vessels can go right in the trash guilt-free.\u201d When Mankotia says \u201crecycling doesn\u2019t work,\u201d the CEO is referencing how most plastic is never recycled<\/a>.<\/p>\n GaeaStar hasn\u2019t paid for a complete life-cycle analysis of the environmental cost of its clay cups, but the company says it plans use its new funds to do so in 2023. Mankotia went on to tell TechCrunch that its internal analysis and estimates \u201cshow us that we\u2019re using significantly less water and energy when compared to paper or plastic incumbents.\u201d<\/p>\n GaeaStar founder Sanjeev Mankotia. Image Credits:<\/strong> Gaeastar<\/p>\n<\/div>\n GaeaStar also aims to establish cup-printing centers near its customers and source clay locally. Calling this a micro-factory model, GaeaStar said in Germany it even delivers vessels using e-bikes. One day, the startup aims to offer a tabletop printer to restaurants so they can \u201cprint the cups on demand at the point of sale.\u201d<\/p>\n The startup sent TechCrunch a sample cup etched with a Verve logo and invited me to reuse it as many times as I\u2019d like, and later smash it, or even use it as a pot for a plant. GaeaStar\u2019s cup is thin, and it isn\u2019t sturdy like plastic, but I found that it\u2019s more than capable of housing multiple coffees. Plus, the novelty of a clay disposable in the U.S. makes it kind of fun to use.<\/p>\n GaeaStar\u2019s latest fundraise follows an earlier $1.7 million pre-seed round, the company said. Its other investors in the new round include At Inc., Sand Hill Angels, VSC and Climate Capital.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Gaeastar](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/GaeaStar_Grunder_Sanjeev-Mankotia-1.jpg\")
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