PepsiCo, Coca-Cola & Starbucks Test Reusable Cups
Products from PepsiCo’s 23 brands are consumed more than one billion times per day around the world.
Among these are more than 300 choices of drinks including Pepsi, 7UP and Gatorade.
Most drinks are packaged in plastic bottles, aluminium cans, or disposable cups.
Whilst some of these are recyclable, only 9% of plastic ever produced has actually been recycled.
When packaging isn’t disposed of properly, it can end up as waste in the oceans or on land which impacts the environment and human health.
Solving these problems requires a systemic shift to more sustainable solutions and steps towards a circular economy.
Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo Chairman and Chief Executive Officer says: “We've made real strides in our goal of improving the lives of many farmers through dedicated programming aiming to support economic prosperity, cut emissions, and increased our use of recycled plastic.”
Trialling reusable cups
If you visit Petaluma, California, between August and October, your fizzy drink might not come in the container you expect.
In a first of its kind trial, more than 30 of the city’s restaurants will provide purple reusable cups for takeaway drinks.
These cups are completely free to use and will be found in both local businesses and big chains.
Cups don’t have to be returned to a store – purple return bins will be placed around the city where cups can be collected, cleaned and redistributed.
Customers can also request a cup pickup from their home if they can’t make it to a bin.
The purple reusable cups
The cups are made of BPA-free plastic, and there are two types for different kinds of drinks.
Polypropylene cups – the material used for yoghurt pots and lunchboxes – will be used for hot drinks and some cold drinks.
Because this plastic is a better insulator than traditional paper cups, an insulating paper sleeve isn’t needed to carry hot drinks.
High density polyethylene will be used at some locations with cold and iced drinks – this plastic is used for milk and drinks bottles.
Both of these plastics are durable enough to be reused many times and are fully recyclable in the area.
Reusable plastic cups will limit the amount of disposable paper cups lined with plastic going to landfill.
Starbucks’ reusable cups
PepsiCo isn’t the only company taking part – Starbucks will also use the cups for hot and cold drinks.
The Starbucks cups use a different design with branding and fill line markings to allow baristas to create specific recipes, and purple branding on the back.
These cups can also be returned to any restaurant involved in the trial or the cup return bins.
Starbucks has run previous reusable cup trials, but the return rate was not high as customers had to bring cups back to its stores.
The trial won’t offer an incentive to return cups, hoping that the ease of returning through bins or home pick up will result in a high return rate.
Petaluma, California
Petaluma in California has a population of around 60,000 people , and can be found 32 miles North of San Francisco in the North Bay region of the area.
The city was chosen for the trial because it covers a diverse geographical footprint including a walkable centre, mixed use suburban neighbourhoods and rural landscapes.
This means the results of the trial could be indicative of how reuse models will work in other areas.
The city government is already engaged in sustainability efforts and residents have shown interest in trialling new systems.
NextGen Consortium
The NextGen Consortium is a collaborative initiative from investment firm Closed Loop Partners bringing leading brands and experts together to address single-use foodservice packaging waste.
The consortium has launched other initiatives focussed on disposable cups as more than 250 billion are produced every year.
The NextGen Cup Challenge funded 12 winning design solutions focussed on new materials, reusable cup models and innovative cup liners.
The consortium works with a wide range of partners, including founding partners Starbucks and McDonald's, sector lead partners The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo, and advisory partner WWF.
Marion Gross, Chief Supply Chain Officer for North America at McDonald’s says: “McDonald’s is committed to using our scale for good.
“We are excited to join Starbucks and Closed Loop to help solve this pressing challenge, as collaboration is key to finding a scalable, lasting global solution.”
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