Starbucks Sells $1 Reusable Cups

by | Jan 4, 2013

This article is included in these additional categories:

Starbucks began selling $1 reusable cups to customers at all of its North American stores yesterday, in an effort to curb waste.

The white plastic cup with the green Starbucks logo looks like the coffee maker’s traditional white paper cups, according to media reports. It holds a tall or grande-size drink and is recyclable.

The coffee giant already offers a dime discount to its customers who bring in a reusable tumbler, Bloomberg says.

The Los Angeles Times writes that Starbucks began testing the reusable cups in October at 600 Pacific Northwest stores. By the following month, the test region saw a 26 percent boost in reusable cup usage compared to October 2011.

In 2008, the Seattle-based brewer set a goal to serve 25 percent of all drinks in reusable cups by 2015. Starbucks later reduced the goal to 5 percent. In 2011, Starbucks served 1.9 percent of all drinks in multiuse cups, up from 1.5 percent in 2009, according to its latest sustainability report.

In July 2012, Starbucks launched EarthSleeve, a compostable hot-cup sleeve that decreases raw fiber material use by 34 percent and increases post-consumer content by 25 percent, compared to similar products.

Starbucks’ reusable mugs are the latest example of efforts to reduce the amount of disposable cups and food containers that end up in landfills.

In July 2012, Eco-Products launched a reusable “event” cup made from 25 percent post-consumer recycled polypropolene at Planet Bluegrass’s 39th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Telluride, Colo.

The following month, Jamba Juice pledged to replace its Styrofoam cups with an environmentally friendly alternative after receiving a petition started by a 10-year-old girl.

Also in 2012, the Los Angeles Unified School District has begun using recyclable and compostable paper cafeteria trays instead of foam lunch carriers, and chemical company BASF partnered with the Seattle Mariners to debut compostable snack bags at a baseball game.

Additional articles you will be interested in.

Stay Informed

Get E+E Leader Articles delivered via Newsletter right to your inbox!

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Share This