Beverage giants combine on cup reuse scheme in California as businesses and consumers demand change

10 Jul 2024 --- The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Starbucks, Peet’s Coffee, Yum! Brands and other global and local brands and restaurants are boosting California’s beverage cup returns through The Petaluma Reusable Cup Project.

Starting August 5, more than 30 restaurants in the City of Petaluma will replace their single-use cups with reusable to-go cups for all customers. Cup return points will also be available across the city. 

“It takes an entire community to build the future of reuse that we want to see,” says Michael Kobori, Starbucks’ chief sustainability officer. 

“Our environmental promise is core to our business and that’s why we’re working toward a future vision of every Starbucks beverage served in a reusable cup.” 

“Together with fellow foodservice brands, local stores and community stakeholders, we’re leading this initiative to help further unlock behavior change toward reusables, making it easy for our customers, and any customer, to choose to reuse and reduce waste,” he adds.

Leveraging data
The project was established by the NextGen Consortium and is led by the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners to activate an “unprecedented” amount of reuse. 

The initiative, which runs until November, will collect baseline data that measures customer participation and the environmental impact of offering reusables as the default choice for customers, testing whether the model is operationally viable for scale. 

The project aims for the reusable to-go cups to become the “default option” (Image credit: NextGen Consortium).Data from the initiative can be leveraged by businesses and regulators to support them as they design new reuse systems and draft well-informed packaging regulations.

The program is dubbed the first initiative of its kind in the US — making reusable to-go cups the “default option” across the country’s city.

The mix of national chains, local independent restaurants, convenience stores, community hubs and public locations makes this initiative distinctly powerful in shaping consumer habits and cultural norms. 

Working against low returns
Across the US, 50 billion single-use cups are purchased and disposed of annually. 

Most of these cups come from restaurants or are disposed of at home, at work or at school. The cups have an average lifespan of less than one hour before going to waste, according to the Center for the Circular Economy’s research. 

But while reuse is growing quickly, use of personal cups and existing takeaway reusable cup systems still face low adoption or low returns.

“To create a world without packaging waste, we need to ensure that food packaging reuse systems are scaled in a way that creates a positive environmental impact –– meeting the current needs of people while driving a cultural shift toward reuse,” says Kate Daly, managing director and head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. 

“By testing reuse across an entire city in partnership with key stakeholders from the community and industry, we can scale reuse collaboratively through thoughtful experimentation, building a future where reuse is the norm.”

Local stakeholder collaborations Californian businesses and consumers are ready to embrace beverage cup reuse, says Closed Loop Partners.
Petaluma was selected for the initiative due to the city’s receptiveness to adopting reuse by businesses and consumers, with the policy environment promoting the phase-out of non-recyclable single-use packaging. 

The city also participated in a returnable cup test at participating Starbucks locations in 2023. 

Closed Loop Partners says the size and dense layout of downtown Petaluma, with its tight cluster of restaurants and local shops within walking distance and proximity to suburban and rural areas, creates the right conditions for testing a reuse system for to-go cups.

Furthermore, the company reports collaboration with local stakeholders has helped adapt the initiative to local policy and infrastructure, identify optimal return points across the city and engage the community.

“The City of Petaluma is laying the groundwork to make cup reuse not only an option but the default,” says Kevin McDonnell, the Mayor of the City of Petaluma. “We have an amazing, engaged community, and we look forward to assisting the success of this program alongside our local restaurants and participating global brands that service our community.”

Leslie Lukacs, executive director at Zero Waste Sonoma, adds: “Imagine a neighborhood where all to-go cups are reusable, and returning these cups required no extra steps. By making reusable cups as convenient and accessible as single use, we can offer an alternative for residents when they forget to bring their own cups with them.”

“Universal accessibility creates the foundation for a cultural shift toward reuse.”

The Petaluma Reusable Cup Project will install more than 60 cup return bins across Petaluma. After use and return, the reusable cups will be collected, washed and recirculated for future uses by participating businesses and customers. 

By Natalie Schwertheim