Blue Heron Solutions
At Blue Heron Solutions (BHS), we like solving problems. Big problems. Like how to reduce the environmental impact of partying.
Founded in 2005 by lifelong collaborators Daniel Spence and Bruce Davidson, BHS works with festivals and large events to reduce their ecological footprint through efficient energy use and waste management, as well as volunteer and staff engagement.
In 2006 the BHS team worked with the Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, one of Canada's largest annual festivals, to develop the first batch of Cupsuckers to help them achieve their goal of significantly decreasing the festival's environmental impact. Having enjoyed a beverage or two at our fair share of outdoor festivals over the years, the BHS crew had noticed how quickly the garbage barrels always seemed to fill up and overflow - often with nothing more than cups.
So the idea to stack them seemed obvious. It also offered us another opportunity: we wanted to use compostable plastic cups at the festival, but knew that this would ultimately only have marginal impact if these cups wound up being sealed in garbage bags and sent to the landfill to be buried anyway where they couldn't break down. But if we were going to be stacking them using Cupsuckers anyway, it was easy toput them in a different bin altogether and send them straight to a compost facility to be turned into organic fertilizer for people's gardens!
The concept underlying the Cupsucker was part of the greening program discussed with Bluesfest from the beginning, but it was only as development of the product progressed and the festival approached that we began to realize the impact that these gadgets were going have on this festival and potentially many others. That's when we applied for the patent!
Results of that first 10-day run at Bluesfest were well beyond our expectations. The Bluesfest "Green Team" of volunteers took on the Cupsucker challenge with massive enthusiasm, not only ensuring that the Cupsuckers were emptied regularly, but making it their mission to let everyone at the festival know about this great new Bluesfest initiative.
The crowds responded phenomenally. Bluesfest was finally able to respond to the clamour for a greener festival, and the sight of Cupsuckers on every garbage barrel in the park was a constant reminder of the rest of the festival's greening initiatives such as recycling, a supervised bike parking lot, and generators fuelled with bio-diesel.
In addition to being the exclusive worldwide distributor of Cupsuckers, Blue Heron Solutions' associates continue to come up with innovative programs and inventions that help reduce the environmental impact of humans having fun.
So thanks for your interest in Cupsuckers, and stay tuned for more innovation from Blue Heron Solutions!
Sincerely,
Daniel Spence, Director
Bruce Davidson, Production Manager
