Here at Big Bang Strategy, we love to talk packaging. Not only does a package provide a great canvas for a product to strut its stuff, but it’s also a great step for a company to reduce their big ol’ carbon footprint. That’s why we’re so interested in Starbucks Betacup contest, which is trying to crowd sourcing solutions to one of all coffee shop’s most obvious environmental flaws: the ubiquitous paper cup. It’s estimated that in 2010, Americans will use 23 Billion cups (holy moly, that’s a lot of landfill space!). While the judges filter through and find the best scientific solution to problem, we wanted to share some of our cool and quirky favorites that might not get as much air time with the Starbucks execs.

Each Cup Has Its Own Story: The basic idea is re-purposing old mugs that have been long forgotten by giving your old mug a story and following it’s coffee holding habits on facebook. Obviously we’d be worried about people who spend hours creating wall posts for their coffee mug, but we love this idea because it asks people to create meaning around the everyday objects in their lives. So many of the things we buy and use just add to the nameless pile of stuff we have laying around. This idea takes a stand against that pile of meaningless stuff and prompts you to add some narrative, consciousness, and a dash of personality to your everyday stuff-using habits.

Paper Crane Origami Cup: What could possibly be cooler than turning your cup into a piece of art? We give high marks to these German designers for the idea that perhaps the first step in figuring out sustainability is to simple introduce a bit more play, beauty and creativity in the world. I think the guy in our parking lot with the “eARTh” bumper sticker would like love this idea. 

Karma Cup: This concept creates a collaborative solution to the problem of trying to get people to use their big, clunky reusable mugs a bit more often. Every tenth person to bring in a reusable mug gets a cup of coffee for free. We adore this idea because it is a creates a positive, pro-social system for reminding and rewarding people for caring about the environment. We kind of want them to ring a big bell and cheer in the store for every serving of paper cup-less coffee they give away—it would at least make us smile while standing in line.