Starbucks, Dunkin’, and Peet’s Coffee are spearheading a new city-wide initiative in Petaluma, California, aimed at promoting the use of reusable coffee cups. The three-month pilot program, starting in August 2024, is organized by the NextGen Consortium, a packaging waste reduction group supported by major brands including Starbucks, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Peet’s Coffee, Wendy’s, and Yum! Brands.
The Petaluma Reusable Cup Project will see over 30 foodservice establishments in the city offering reusable cups as the default option at no extra cost to customers. This effort seeks to address the significant waste issue posed by single-use cups—over 50 billion are discarded annually in the US, with many ending up in landfills.
To facilitate the program, more than 60 collection points will be established across Petaluma. These stations will handle the collection, washing, and redistribution of the reusable cups to participating businesses. The initiative aims to gather data on customer participation and environmental impact to assess the feasibility of scaling the model.
Kate Daly, Managing Director and Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners, emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts in scaling reuse practices. “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,” she said.
Starbucks, based in Seattle, is committed to fostering a global cultural shift towards reusable cups as part of its 2030 sustainability goals, which aim to make the company ‘resource positive’ by the end of the decade. The company has already implemented cup share programs in over 25 markets worldwide and began accepting reusable cups for drive-thru and mobile orders in the US in January 2024.
Michael Kobori, Chief Sustainability Officer at Starbucks, highlighted the collaborative nature of the initiative: “It takes an entire community to build the future of reuse that we want to see. 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.”
The Petaluma Reusable Cup Project will feature participation from eight Starbucks locations, two Peet’s Coffee shops, and one Dunkin’ store.