ATLANTA — Planet Smoothie has announced the winner of its Re-Use It or Lose It Campaign, held to help the company implement a sustainable process for polystyrene.
More than 100 people submitted ideas, but the winning entry came from Jacob Chicoski, who sent the Double Layered Ice Insulated Cornstarch Smoothie Cup, or the Star-Point Cup. The idea relies on a recyclable polyethylene clear plastic cup, the laminated aerogel to be considered as an alternative to polystyrene, made of 99 percent air and dissolvable over time.
The three judges were Natalie Allen, anchor/reporter of Forecast Earth on The Weather Channel; Laura Turner Seydel, eco-living expert; and Scott Seydel, president of The Seydel Companies and board chairman of Global Green.
Chicoski's winning entry encourages customers to recycle the polystyrene through the suggestion that customers bring nine used smoothie cups cleaned and stacked to receive a free smoothie as an incentive. In turn, Planet Smoothie will return the cups to the manufacturer for proper recycling.
For his winning entry, Chicoski will receive $5,000 and free smoothies for a year. Planet Smoothie expects to send about 50,000 cups a year to be recycled from just one franchise.
