City Experiments with Reusable Cups at Starbucks, Taco Bell and 30 Other Restaurants–with Return Bins all Over Town

July 25, 2024 journo

A consortium of small firms is creating a renewable revolution within the boundaries of a small city in Northern California, which will be the testbed for a use-and-return concept for fast food drinks.

Around 50 billion disposable drink cups are used every year in the US, but in the city of Petaluma, we will see if Americans have the discipline to reduce this footprint.

The city numbers around 60,000 people, and will participate in the Reuseable Cup Project. The aim is to furnish 30 local restaurants, from Starbucks to Taco Bell, with identical, durable, plastic drink cups, which customers and diners can use and then either leave on the table, or deposit in a network of dropoff bins around the city.

NextGen Consortium, which is led by the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners investment firm, asked the city government for help identifying partner restaurants, while a firm called Muuse will provide professional cleaning and distribution services to redeliver the cleaned cups back to the locations.

“What they’ve told us they like about Petaluma is that there’s already a spirit of sustainability in Petaluma and [an] interest in trying to reduce the amount of waste that we’re creating collectively as a city,” Patrick Carter, assistant of the city manager who oversees the program, said in a phone call with FOX Business.

“They liked the combination of kind of a denser downtown, more businesses together that are serving these drinks, these beverages, but with a smaller population.”

Located between Santa Rosa and San Francisco, Petaluma’s residents will not be charged a penny more for their drinks, and are only asked to drop them off in one of the network of bins when they are finished. A map showing the locations of the bins can be found on the project website.

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Along with reducing cup waste, it should also reduce the throwaway hot drink sleeves, since the cups themselves are more durable and less conductive to heat.

A three-month trial starting on August 5th and running into November will provide NextGen the data they need to understand if such a program can be used in larger cities.

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