Starbucks Is Testing Its Biggest Reusable Cup Pilot Yet

Starbucks is launching a three-month reusable cup project in Petaluma, California, starting August 5. The project will involve the NextGen Consortium, a global consortium of brands, manufacturers, and solutions to single-use food packaging. Over two dozen local businesses and national chains in the city, including Peet’s Coffee, Burger King, and Yum! Brands, will participate in the trial to reduce waste.

When customers purchase beverages to go at participating restaurants, they will be served in free, reusable purple cups that can be returned at one of 60 drop-off bins located around the city. All returned cups will be professionally washed, sanitized, and put back into circulation until the project ends on October 28.

Starbucks has been experimenting with reusable cups as part of its environmental commitment to transition to more sustainable packaging since 1985. In 2021, the company started piloting borrow-and-return cup programs similar to the current project and has completed more than two dozen tests worldwide. This trial is taking the company’s sustainability efforts one step further, serving all to-go beverage orders in a reusable and returnable cup by default.

While this pilot may bring Starbucks closer to eliminating single-use cups, change will not happen overnight. In the meantime, Starbucks is rethinking its plastic packaging to alleviate waste. In the long term, the company wants all customer-facing packaging to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2030.

Read More @ Inc.