The red Solo cup has become an iconic symbol of college party culture. They run rampant on campuses across the country, piling up in frat houses, off-campus apartments and parking lots.
Now, however, those cups are being used by a generation of students who are more environmentally conscious than ever before. The pairing has created a somewhat odd marriage, since red Solo cups are made from No. 6 plastic, which is chemically identical to styrofoam, a form of polystyrene that is hard to recycle.
Brown University juniors Priya Mittal and Olivia Tulkoff believe they have a remedy for the problem with their new company, Fette. The startup makes transparent plastic cups from No. 1 plastic: polyethylene terephthalate, one of the most recyclable plastics.
“I think we've really taken on that trend that Gen-Zs have been exhibiting in particular,” Mittal told Rhode Island Inno. “They really signal the issues they care about through their purchases, and I think the ability to hold a Fette cup in your hand lets you have a good time and signals to people around you that you care about the environment.”
Mittal and Tulkoff met through a social innovation fellowship run by the Brown Center for Public Service. The two shared a common interest in sustainability and entrepreneurship, and they were both naturally social.
When they realized that not many of their fellow peers knew how red Solo cups were hurting the environment, they set out to create a more sustainable replacement.
Tulkoff and Mittal considered a wide range of options, including cups that were biodegradable, made from paper or even reusable. Through their research and subject interviews, they arrived at the decision that any replacement cup would have to be single-use, and it would have to be recyclable.
“College students in no world are washing out their cups after a party,” Tulkoff said. “It has to be recyclable and not compostable, because the average student, whether on Brown’s campus or pretty much anywhere else, is going to have much easier access to recycling opportunities than they are to composting.”
Tulkoff and Mittal also decided to make their cups transparent instead of opaque, so college students would be able to better know what’s going into their cups.
“It was super intentional for the look and branding and protecting college students against sexual assault, and fighting party culture where you’re in a frat basement and you don’t know what’s being handed to you,” Tulkoff said. “You absolutely should know. You should know what’s in your cup.”
When they first founded Fette, the two had planned to go to market by selling to program houses such as Greek organizations and sports teams.
But with the coronavirus pandemic putting a pause on most large-scale parties, Tulkoff and Mittal chose to target the smaller gatherings that are more common during the pandemic and sell their cups in packs of 22.
The company launched in the first week of September and is currently selling cups to students at Brown, Yale University and Duke University. At the moment, a university email address is required for purchase.
Looking ahead, the company will focus on partnering with other brands to enter the college market, expanding to more campuses and then, eventually, recent grads living in apartments.
Bram Berkowitz is a contributing writer for Rhode Island Inno.
