Starbucks is going greener. The coffee giant has announced that in six of the markets where they have stores, they are “shifting away from single-use plastics and piloting reusable cup programs.”
Don’t worry, they’re not getting rid of them completely, but they are phasing out the paper cups in favor of reusable ones. The hope is to cut the amount of waste created at the chain by 50% by the year 2030. Customers will be allowed to bring their own reusable cups into the stores, and they hope to expand this to all of their shops in the U.S. and Canada by the end of 2023.
They are also creating a Borrow a Cup program that would require customers to pay a deposit on a reusable cup that is “designed to be returned to stores.” And if customers do opt for a single-use cup they may be charged a 10-cent fee.
Starbucks is also considering increasing the discount they give to customers who bring in their own reusable cups, upping it from 10 cents where it is right now to 50 cents off.
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