Sip, return, repeat’: US city tackles throwaway cup culture with first-of-its-kind system
Sip, return, repeat’: US city tackles throwaway cup culture with first-of-its-kind system
From Starbucks to local cafes, Petaluma’s reusable cup project aims to cut down on rampant plastic waste
Instead of the single-use paper or plastic cups that Gearhard would usually line up for the barista slinging espresso, he’s passing over shiny new reusable cups that bear the slogan “Sip, Return, Repeat”. Customers who need their lattes to go can take the purple cups with them, then return them to one of 60 bins scattered across downtown Petaluma when they’ve finished. Each cup comes with a trackable QR code to help monitor results.
First-of-it's-kind lol. The German city of Tuebingen does it for 2-3 years already.
This was how all glass bottles used to work during most of the 20th century.
I mean, good for them, but returnable packaging isn't that crazy of an idea. It's not surprising that someone came up with "hey give us back the thing instead of trashing it and we'll use it again" before the year we figured out talking computers.
Generally the whole of Germany has the Pfand system, where you pay a 25¢ deposit when you buy a bottle that you get back once you return it.
Tuebingen did their re-usable cups and bowl stuff to tackle trash from one time packaging like burgers, paper cups and so on. The city imposed a tax on the one time stuff that then "soft-forced" people to adopt the returnable packaging.
Honestly, it's not much different to the refillable water bottles people carry around. Now people hand over their boxes to the Dönermann to get their Dönerbox.
The shops aren’t having to clean the cups themselves – they’re washed by an outside logistics company – meaning there’s one less thing for businesses to factor in as they make the switch.
This is an important detail that I think was very clever to include in the program. Reduce the friction to gain buy-in.
The reusable cups are plastic. Can plastic be sanitised as well as glass? We know that glass can be used in such schemes as it used to be in the past.
Forget sanitation, why are we making any kind of environmental solution out of plastic? Can people not bring a metal cup to the coffee shop?
Most people stop for coffee on their way somewhere. They don't want to be carrying a cup around all day.
Takeout cups should be environmentally friendly, or not offered at all. If you can't make it green, make time to sit down for your coffee (or put up with your own travel mug).
not to mention possible issues with plastic leeching, especially in hot beverages.
Headlines in one year: ”Amercan waterways flooded with reusable cups as Americans still throw away what should be reused."
I use of of these when I go to the office
It barely take any space in my backpack, and I can easily clean it once I'm back home.
Got 4 little ones for camping, collapsed they're only 1cm tall.
They have this in Taipei and it doesn't work because the places is to return the cups are not convenient enough.
What’s their difference to glass bottles? i.e. the ones Coca Cola uses?
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/24/petaluma-reusable-cup-project-california
Bullshit, The Guardian is as credible as they come.