Bye bye disposable cups, hello sustainability! Students develop coffee cups

As part of the “Social Leadership” course, two dedicated students from the Supply Chain Management (SCM) master's degree program at the FH Upper Austria Campus Steyr have launched an impressive sustainability project: the reusable “Bring Your Own Cup” coffee cup. The aim of this project is to reduce the number of disposable cups on campus and at the same time raise awareness of environmentally conscious behavior.

“The idea came to us during a coffee break,” explains René Michael Buchberger, BA, one of the two project managers. “We saw how many paper cups with plastic lids were being thrown away and thought: there must be a better solution.” Together with his fellow student Lukas Dallansky, BA, they developed a reusable cup that is not only practical but also visually appealing. The design picks up on the iconic FH III building to create a link to the campus.

Creative ideas for a more sustainable future

“It was important to us that the cup has a direct connection to the campus, but is also popular off campus,” adds Lukas Dallansky. “That's why we also integrated the hashtag #scm into the design to draw attention to our degree program and at the same time set an example for sustainability.” Thanks to the support of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria and sponsors from the course representatives of the logistics degree programs, the cups could be produced in large quantities and distributed to the students free of charge.

The project received consistently positive feedback. “Our fellow students and the dean's office were enthusiastic - both about the idea and the design of the mug,” the project managers proudly report. “It was great to see how many people support the vision of a more sustainable university.” Even though the cups have now all been distributed, the message remains: Every step towards sustainability counts - and this reusable coffee cup is a small but important contribution to this.

More information about the logistics courses at the FH Upper Austria Campus Steyr can be found here.