In North America we consume 58 billion paper cups every year. This represents 60% of the worlds total cup wastage. Shockingly these cups are not being recycled and most end up in landfill.

The problem is that as consumers we love convenience and paper cups are a symbol of how out of control our throw away culture has become. Additionally, adoption of current reusable alternatives is less than 2%. This means we have a serious problem on our hands.

We need your help to find a solution that eliminates paper cup consumption while creating a more convenient alternative to existing reusable coffee mugs.

To achieve this we are launching a global design contest and we need your support to help fund the prize that will go to the winning designer or designers.

Your contributions, regardless of how small or large will give this project the credibility it needs to attract and incentivize the worlds best designers.

Your role will also be crucial as we enter the design phase. We will ask you to rate and review the ideas and based on your feedback we will invite the best designers to create prototypes.

The prize will ultimately be used to help the winners begin the process of getting their ideas to market.

All money raised here on Kickstarter will be used for prize money only (Who will check? We hope you will).

For more information please see http://thebetacup.com or contact me, Toby Daniels, directly at tdaniels76@mail.com or follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/thebetacup

P.S. Maybe helping fund the prize is not your thing. Don't worry, there will be lots of ways to help out. Please let your friends and family know about betacup - more than 65% of us are coffee drinkers, so there is bound to be some interest. Who knows, maybe they have already dreamed up the winning idea.