Sustainable student group 'Cuple' wins Universitas 21 Provost’s Award

The winning group of University of Melbourne students for their creation Cuple.

Cuple, a social enterprise created by a group of University of Melbourne students, has been awarded Universitas 21 Provost’s Award at its 2021 RISE Showcase.

The group's social enterprise addresses a major problem facing our environment: single use coffee cups. Their solution, Cuple, uses the power of the circular economy and the convenience of a mobile app to change the way cafes are doing business.

Cuple partners with cafes to offer an easy way for consumers to use a reusable coffee cup through a subscription service, which means they don’t have to worry about washing or carrying their reusable cup because they can pick them up and drop them off at any café.

RISE – Real Impact on Society and Environment - highlighted student achievement in sustainability and social innovation.

The Showcase was designed to accelerate the scale and impact of student-led projects based aspects of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by connecting them with a network of experts in academia and industry.

This year finalists from 23 member universities competed across 55 different projects in four categories to win US$2000 seed funding to further their project; with awards given for Most Innovative, Most Collaborative, Most Impact and Most Potential.

The University of Melbourne’s nomination, Cuple, were awarded an additional award from U21 Provost Jenny Dixon in recognition of the quality of their project.

Congratulations to Cuple members Eva Wu (Bachelor of Commerce and Diploma in Computer Science), Risin Dahanayake (Bachelor of Science), Vishal Katwe (Bachelor of Science), Nathan Lee (Bachelor of Commerce), Mariam Hanna (Bachelor of Commerce) and Jason Li (Bachelor of Commerce) on their achievement.