NextGen Consortium was launched by Starbucks and McDonald’s in 2018 | Photo credit: NextGen Consortium

US coffee chains Starbucks, Dunkin’ and Peet’s Coffee are among major hospitality businesses set to take part in a new city-wide reusable cup share trial programme in Petaluma, California. 

The Petaluma Reusable Cup Project has been launched by NextGen Consortium, a packaging and waste reduction initiative launched by Starbucks and McDonald’s in 2018, which now counts Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Peet’s Coffee, Wendy’s and Yum! Brands among supporting partners and Dunkin’ as trial participant. 

It will see more than 30 foodservice brands in the city provide reusable cups as the default option with no point-of-sale cost for customers.   

According to NextGen, more than 50 billion single-use cups are used across the US every year, with the majority ending up in landfill, with reusable cup schemes in the US continuing to face weak adoption and low return rates. 

More than 60 return points will be installed across Petaluma, where the reusable cups will be collected, washed and recirculated for future use by participating businesses and customers as part of a three-month initiative commencing in August 2024.  

NextGen will collect baseline data from the trial to measure customer participation and the environmental impact of offering reusables as default before deciding whether the model is operationally viable for scale.  

“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,” said Kate Daly, Managing Director and Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. 

Seattle-based Starbucks wants to create a ‘cultural movement’ towards reusable coffee cup use across its global store portfolio as part its ambitious 2030 sustainability goals, which set the coffee chain on a path towards becoming a ‘resource positive’ business by the end of the decade.  

Starbucks has launched cup share programmes in over 25 markets globally to date and in January 2024 began accepting reusable cups for drive-thru and mobile orders in the US.

“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 behaviour change toward reusables, making it easy for our customers, and any customer, to choose to reuse and reduce waste,” said Michael Kobori, Chief Sustainability Officer, Starbucks. 

In total, eight Starbucks stores, two Peet’s Coffee outlets and single Dunkin’ site are taking part in the Petaluma Reusable Cup Project.