With around 50 billion disposable drink cups used annually, a small city in Northern California is saying goodbye to disposable cups. Petaluma introduced a new initiative called Reusable Cup Project and became the first citywide reusable cup program in the nation to combat the waste problem in the United States.
The initiative, whose slogan is “sip, return, repeat,” is part of California’s fight to phase out single-use plastics.
“Transitioning to returnable packaging systems is a critical part of reducing single-use packaging waste, and we need to focus on supporting the operations behind it,” Brittany Gamez, from operating company Muuse, said. “It is through initiatives like this that we can identify what is needed to operationalize shared systems at this level and inform how reuse is implemented at scale.”
More than 30 restaurants and coffee shops, including major chains such as Starbucks, Taco Bell and Dunkin’ Donuts, have joined the pilot project. After use, the insulated reusable purple cups can be dropped in associated bins across the city. They are then collected, sanitized and delivered back to participating restaurants for re-use.
The project’s main backer, Closed Loop Partners—a renewables-focused investment firm—said the pilot project will help “gather data on how many people actually return the cups and whether they really do reduce their operators’ environmental impact,” Independent reported. The Reusable Cup Project, which started on Aug. 1, will run to Nov. 1.
“One cup doesn’t consume a massive amount of resources to produce and dispose, but when thousands of cups are used daily… that waste accumulates in a significant way,” Patrick Carter, assistant city manager said. “Reuse is the solution.”
COMMENTS