The Beginning of the End of Starbucks Paper Cups?

Starbucks is bringing back its reusable cup initiatives after a pause during the pandemic. The iconic American coffee company launched its largest “borrow-a-cup” initiative to date in California this summer — a move it says is part of its plans to make all of its packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2030.

Americans use around 130 billion disposable cups every year. Some 50 billion of those are paper coffee cups, which include a layer of plastic in their interior to keep your coffee drinks hot. 

At 12 Starbucks locations in California, customers who don’t bring their own reusable cups can borrow one from the store and bring it back the next day to be washed and reused by other customers. They can also use ceramic and glass “For Here Ware” if they plan to sit in the cafe to drink their coffees. The green initiatives are part of a test pilot Starbucks launched in August at stores in Napa and Petaluma, which will run through Oct. 22. 

The company has also tested reusable cup programs in Colorado and Arizona. At its Arizona State University store, customers can return their “Borrow A Cup” for a $1 discount or drop it off in a bin around campus, according to the company. A Starbucks store in Seattle has served all of its drinks in reusable cups since 2022, the company said.

“With the majority of Starbucks beverages enjoyed on the go, the company continues to test and learn how to best provide customers the option to shift toward reusables,” the company said in its announcement of the program. 

Coffee and fast food chains have had programs for customers who bring their own reusable cups or at least agreed to fill them up for years but they were put on hold during the pandemic. New York-based Think Coffee launched a “cup swap” program at its stores in 2019. Dunkin’ eliminated foam cups in 2018 previously and offered a 10-cent discount for customers who brought in reusable mugs, though it halted the program during the pandemic.

Oakland, California-based Blue Bottle Coffee, which has acquired by Nestlé in 2017, asked customers to bring their own cups starting in 2019. A large number of local coffee shops in U.S. cities from New York to San Francisco and Boulder, Colorado, will also fill up your reusable coffee cup.

Peet’s and Starbucks allowed customers to start bringing their reusable cups again in August 2021. 

In 2020, Starbucks committed to cutting its waste in half by 2030 — a goal that seems far off since only a handful of its more than 14,000 locations have implemented reusable cup programs.