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In 2019, Kristina Smithe participated in the California International Marathon. While grabbing water to keep hydrated, she began to reflect on the environmental impact of such events. Upon her return home, she calculated: 9,000 runners, 17 aid stations, and a staggering 150,000 cups that were used and discarded.
“I was surprised to find it wasn’t sustainable, even in California,” Smithe remarked.
This realization inspired her to create something more eco-friendly: a lightweight, reusable silicone cup designed for multiple uses. After refining its design, she ordered her first batch and tested them at the 2021 race.
Christina Smith, founder of Hiccup, a reusable silicone cup, poses with a portrait of her rescue dog Tina while participating in a city race in Minneapolis on Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)
Today, her enterprise, Hiccup Earth, has around 70,000 cups available for rent to races, substituting for the conventional white paper cups that tend to accumulate like snow stacks at busy water stations.
Globally, billions of disposable cups are utilized each year. Many of these are manufactured from plastic, and, even when made from paper, they frequently have a plastic lining that complicates degradation. Furthermore, the production, disposal, or incineration of these cups contributes to greenhouse gas emissions that exacerbate climate change.
“It represents only a tiny segment of our plastic waste issue, yet it’s quite conspicuous,” stated Sarah Gleeson, Solutions Research Manager and Plastics Waste Expert, noted for her work in climate change mitigation at non-profits. “This creates substantial waste that can endure in landfills for centuries.”
Runners will be throwing away reusable silicone cups provided by Hiccup during the urban races in Minneapolis on Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)
Upon establishing her business, Smith reached out to race directors to inquire whether their events utilized disposable cups.
“The answer was always affirmative,” she recalled. Her follow-up: “If you seek a sustainable option, I possess one.”
Now, she rents cups for up to a thousand participants, transporting them to events in a large tote and leaving behind a branded bottle for post-use collection. Smithe collects the used cups and sanitizes them in a dedicated dishwasher.
During the PNC women’s urban races in Minneapolis and St. Paul held in early May, Smithe helped quench many runners’ thirst. Thousands of runners utilized a 17-gallon tote filled with flexible blue cups.
After the event, Smith, now 35, estimated that she had supplied cups for 137 races, saving approximately 902,000 disposable cups from ending up in landfills. The washing process consumes just 30 gallons of water for 1,500 cups, much less than the 3-5 gallons used by an average efficient household dishwasher.
One trade-off of renting cups is that it requires greater involvement from race directors compared to other options. Each disposable cup typically costs only a few cents, while renting 10,000 Hiccup cups comes in at around 15 cents each, with decreasing prices for larger quantities.
The concept of renting reusable cups necessitates more effort from race directors than typical alternatives. Individual disposable cups may only cost a few cents, however, renting 10,000 Hiccup cups amounts to about 15 cents each, with the potential for lower costs with larger orders.
As Gleason from Project Drawdown mentions, “Scalability is definitely an option with these types of solutions. They can lower costs and enhance environmental benefits.”
Used cups will be discarded by runners for collection during the PNC women’s city races in Minneapolis on May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)
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Alexa St. John is a climate reporter for the Associated Press. Follow her on Twitter: @Alexa_stjohn. You can reach her via email at [email protected].
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Learn more about AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment.
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Source: apnews.com