34 ConneCTiCuT Green Guide • Fall 2014 www.CTGreenGuide.com
Starting Up
TreeSleeve offers eco-friendly
coffee cup sleeves made from
sugarcane. Fraser got the idea while
visiting a local coffee shop, where
a barista told him 400 cardboard
sleeves are trashed daily. His compa-
ny raised $68,000 on Kickstarter and
plans a September product test.
Save money
While Fraser sets his exact pric-
ing, his sleeves cost about 5 percent
more than cardboard, so there is
little money to be saved. By offer-
ing an all-natural product, Fraser
offsets the cost premium through
environmental benefits.
Save the Environment
Sugarcane is a renewable resource
that replenishes itself thrice yearly,
and the TreeSleeve's ink is water-
based. The sleeve's design is meant to
entangle with other garbage, speeding
the composting process. The compa-
ny plans to plant a tree in a deforest-
ed area for every sleeve it sells.
A Sugar
Coffee
Clutch
TreeSleeve
Founder: ray Fraser, CEo
empLoyeeS: 5
LaunCH: auGuST 2013
HeadquarTerS: 151 Bonner St.
hartford, CT 06106
WebSiTe: TreeSleeve.com
a Clean sTarTuP
phoTo | STEvE LASChEvER
