Cup for Cup

Canada enjoys one fifth of the world’s fresh water supply. If there is a little bit more water to go around, why not replenish water Cup for Cup where it is desperately needed?

For example, when you visit the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant in Toronto, 100% of the water served at your table is replenished by 50 water purifiers that the Old Spaghetti Factory helped families to purchase in Uganda.

Similarly, Cowbell Brewery is committed to replacing the 3.5 litres of water that it takes to brew beer for the Old Spaghetti Factory’s restaurant, as well as Cowbell’s own restaurant at their brewery in Blythe, Ontario.

And Southbrook Vineyards is committed to replacing the water used to operate the facility producing their wines in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

How it Works

Standard Approach

Calculate the amount of potable water used to make your product, or a specific product line (SKU). For example: if your factory used 3,000 m³ of water last year
Divide the amount of water by the lifetime output of a residential Biosand filter (300 m³ of water). For above example: 3,000 m³/300 m³ = 10 biosand filter sponsorships
Help that many families purchase water purifiers. 10 * $120 = $1,200 per year

Custom Approach

If your product does not lend itself towards the direct metric, other approaches include:

Grosche provides somebody with 50 days of safe water for every product that Grosche sells.
The Sustainable Business Textbook redirects 100% of the author’s royalties from book sales into biofilter sponsorships.

How it’s Communicated

Organizations and individuals committing to Cup for Cup are permitted to use the Cup for Cup logo on their product packaging and other promotional items.
Each Cup for Cup participant is given a dedicated partner page where they can keep track of the number of people that they have helped gain access to safe water.
About once per year, Enviro-Stewards staff visit recipients of biofilter sponsorships. Sponsors interested in visiting the projects themselves can sometimes be accommodated (see Grosche’s visit).

Participate in Cup for Cup

If you’re interested in participating in the Cup for Cup program or you’d like to learn more about it, please contact us.