Mapleoaks was created to bring together a personal mission to reduce waste with a career's worth of consumer goods insight. In 2019, we started the year with four resolutions, and we are feeling good about the results. 1. Launch our first venture in the circular economy: Our 2019 highlight was the birth of s.mug, a reusable cup that is there when you need it. We pilot tested the s.mug ‘To Go’ mug rental service, generating a lot of learnings, and launched our handy tote to help you carry your cup! We are ever grateful to the brilliance of Brown & Co, Alasdair Scott, and the cafés and people who tested the service. 2. Enable others to launch disruptive business ideas It was inspirational to work with a number of start-up ventures, one of them, KinKind, launched just prior to Christmas. Another, Carbon Copy, has just become a registered charity. 3. Active support of local environmental charities s.mug was able to donate a to charity based on a % of mug rental and bag sales. In additional, many volunteer hours were happily spent with the Plastic Free Windsor team, working towards the Plastic Free Communities program in Windsor. 4. Challenge the status quo by sharing 52 ideas in 52 weeks. (@ideablog) We shared a few ideas, but didn’t reach 52! 2019 was an exciting year, building knowledge in the circular economy. In 2020, Mapleoaks Ventures will focus exclusively on s.mug with our core question of how do we make it easier to make the effort to live everyday life, with less waste? Seriously, it is 2020, why do we need disposable cups? Our vision is to live everyday life, unpackaged. Our mission is to make it easier to make the effort to dramatically reduce waste. You can learn more about us at www.mapleoaks.co.uk or learn more about s.mug at www.smug.eco