Like most offices & companies around the world, the GKinetic team goes through countless cups of tea and coffee to fuel us through our days, so when we came across the Monkey Cups great range of reusable cups we were instant fans. Irish adults drink an average of 3 cups of coffee per day, imagine how many single-use cups are thrown away!
To protect our children’s future and our planet, MonkeyCups are changing the way people think about single-use disposable cups in their everyday lives. MonkeyCups, an Irish company with multiple awards has created a variety of vibrant, fashionable,reusable alternatives to single-use disposable cups and water bottles all of which can be custom branded.
The company was founded by Mailo Power who was inspired by the “100th Monkey Phenomenon of Social Change” which claims that after a certain percentage of a group adopts a new behavior, everyone will do the same.
Founder Mailo learned the significance of local collaboration during the process from concept to prototype to finished product. As all of us here at Gkinetic are very aware of, there were a number of unexpected detours and turns along the way that would have tested any organisation, let alone a fresh start-up. We were excited to speak to Mailo directly to learn more about her passion for the business:
What is the significance of sustainability in your own personal life?
We all need to look after our environment, especially the ocean. Protecting our sea,beaches and coastline is of vital importance to the future of the planet. I live besidethe sea in Dunmore East, I see first-hand the Impact of single-use plastic waste onmy daily walks. I take part in regular beach cleans, the only thing you should leaveon the beach are your footprints.Leaving the house it’s keys, wallet, a reusable Monkey Cup and Monkey Bottle, itbecomes a habit and gets easier to remember. On the odd occasion when I do forgetmy Monkey Cup I either take time and have a coffee in a cup or wait until I get home.I also drive an electric car and walk where possible. We purchase loose fruitvegetables and shop locally. My daughter keeps us all on our toes when it comes torecycling and reusing, she also takes the lead in food-prep avoiding buying food insingle-use wrappers for lunch.
Are there any challenges with running a business with sustainable values?
Like all businesses the rising costs within the supply chain and doing business is challenging. We live in uncertain and challenging times but as the COVID-19 pandemic clearly illustrated when we support each other we can discover new ways of doing things that we never thought were possible. We use DHL Go Green service to offset our carbon footprint by planting trees and supporting clean water initiatives. We manufacture our lids and sliders locally here in Waterford with Marli P
roducts Ltd and hand assemble all our Monkey Cups at our unit in the Waterford Airport Business Park. We reuse all packaging and monitor every step in the supply chain to ensure every step is as sustainable as possible.
Where do you see yourself and your company going in the future?
Monkey Cups is more than an alternative to single-use it’s a movement for change.Covid-19 has given us all the opportunity to look at our lives, it is no longer a case of business as usual, this is transformational change. We must question how we do business and what impact we are having on the earth. We will continue to manufacture durable and reusable products that provide on-the-go drinking, that people enjoy using time after time, minimising waste and reducing the need for virgin resources such as trees.
We have two new reusable products coming on stream in Q3 In addition we have a number of exciting NEW collaborations in the pipeline. With the latte levy coming in this year we look forward to working with businesses and providing them with alternative single-use disposable cups and bottles. We are also looking forward to entering the reusable products market in the Netherlands this year and look forward to expanding our market throughout Europe and into the Nordic Countries.
“Around half a million c
affeine fixes are served in disposable cups in Ireland everyday” by switching to reusable alternatives such as Monkey cups instead of single-use cups “Together we can turn the tide on single-use plastic disposables, protecting our children’s future and the future of our planet”