Packaging waste is becoming a major problem for our environment and a major drain on human resources. With small steps towards reusing and recycling materials, as well as creating and researching biodegradable alternatives we can hope to reduce our impact on the environment.

As part of the Esso Design Challenge I created the Keep Can an accessory for new cans offering the opportunity to insulate, protect, and reseal open cans, but also to reuse cans as either a small water bottle, coffee cup, or other liquid storage.

The keep can is simple. Unscrew the lid and insert full can into insulating Keep Can body before opening beverage can and completely removing aluminium tab. Once opened screw on Keep Can cap to secure 250ml can. Open the top of the Keep Can to drink as normal.

The Keep Can in comprised of 5 main parts:

The insulating body

The lid

The cap

Securing pin

Water gasket

The Body, lid, cap and pin can all be printed using standard PLA. I’ve found that no support is needed on my printers at a .2mm layer height.

The Gasket however needs to be printed in a flexible material such as flexible PLA or TPU.