NEW YORK, NY — The winner of a competition sponsored by Starbucks to gather ideas for reducing non-recyclable paper cup use isn't a cup at all, but a concept for encouraging customers to bring their own cups for possible free drinks.
The three honorable mentions are also ideas that encourage customer reuse, but one honorable mention also includes a rice-based reusable cup, and the five "community picks" are a mix of biodegradable, recyclable and collapsible cups.
"We're very interested in looking at the winning ideas and many of the other submitted ideas as we develop new solutions to reduce cup waste," said Elise Chisholm, Starbucks spokesperson. "We haven't yet had a chance to determine specific action plans. Increasing adoption of reusable cups - including travel tumblers and our own ceramic serveware - is definitely an important part of the equation for us."
The Betacup competition offered a total of $20,000 for ideas that could eliminate paper cup consumption. Starbucks sponsored it as part of its efforts to only offer reusable or recyclable cups by 2015.
The winning idea was the Karma Cup, a simple concept for putting a chalkboard by the register at a coffee shop, having customers that use reusable cups make a mark on the board, and then giving a free coffee to every 10th customer that uses a reusable.
The three honorable mentions are the Band of Honor, a rubber band with a barcode on it that a customer can put on any reusable cup and have scanned every time they use it, getting larger discounts the more they reuse it; the Champion Cup, a platform in which customers tag their mugs, register them online, get rewards for reusing them and track how many cups they've saved; and a reusable and biodegradable cup made form rice husks that has a sleeve with an RFID tag that can be scanned for tracking cup use and receiving discounts.
The winner of the competition, which was run through Jovoto.com, was chosen by a judging panel and receives $10,000, while the top five ideas chosen as "community picks" each receive $2,000. Starbucks provided the $20,000 prize money.
While many of the awarded ideas focus on reusable cups, unless Starbucks stops offering drinks in disposable cups, it will need other recyclable or compostable solutions to reach its goal for 2015.
"We're currently working with a wide range of stakeholders to improve recycling infrastructures in the communities where our stores are located," Chisholm said. "Ultimately, we want our paper and plastic cups to be recyclable in form and in practice - in our stores, in public spaces, and at our customers' homes."
Recycling has been sticking point in Starbucks' environmental efforts. In its 2009 Global Responsibility Report, it stamped "Needs Improvement" on its three recycling goals of developing a recyclable cup by 2012, setting up front-of-store recycling in company-owned stores by 2015 and serving a quarter of beverages in reusable cups by 2015.
In April, Starbucks hosted its second cup summit, bringing together municipalities, suppliers, manufacturers, recyclers, NGOs and more to develop solutions for making paper and plastic cups more widely recyclable. Earlier that month, on April 15, Starbucks ran a promotion giving a free coffee to anyone who brought in a reusable mug to use. Some Starbucks offer to serve drink in reusable mugs that stay at the location, and all give customers a 10 cent discount when they use their own reusable mug.
Starbucks cup trash - CC license by Flickr user Genista
Lame... Why would it take 2-5
Lame... Why would it take 2-5 years to get recycled cups and recycling/composting bins into the mix?? by that time you can count on billions of wasted opportunities. They should have started this conversation 10 years ago (but it reminds me of why i have never stepped inside of a starbucks).
RJ - the reusable cups are like any ole coffee mug you use at a restaurant - they wash them in steam machine therefore they are cleaner than your dishes at home...
Big fan of the contest. There
Big fan of the contest. There were a lot of cool designs out there, but I'm a bit surprised that this Karma Cup won.
It's a solid start, but it's not completely there. Folks in-store are definitely going to be vying for their free coffee by looking at the blackboard and trying to game the system.
It's also not a particularly innovative idea. Loyalty programs like this have been around for a while (free sandwich after 10 stamps) and many coffee shops have been giving 10 / 25 cent discounts to folks who bring re-usable cups for a while too.
I would encourage all coffee
I would encourage all coffee shops to charge a sustainable fee of .50-.75 per disposable cup. These monies would be earmarked for the use of each county for the proper disposal and recycling of these cups and sleeves.
Another great idea would be to market the plastic/metal travel coffee mug with a coupon for 10 free cups of coffee when it is purchased at their store. It is great for the environment and it is even better for the business. This is how you create awareness- it is easier to shell out 24.95 for a cup if it will give you 10 free cups of coffee in the long run, by then the customer will be trained to use their cup and there would not be a need to use paper cups.- Bigger incentive to buy re-loadable card for coffee cup and save 10% when it is used.
It is sickening to see so many people just drinking out of paper cups in the store,what happened? Staff too lazy to put the ceramic cups in the dishwasher? We have to change the views of our generation when it comes to convenience- we may save a few minutes here and there but in the long run it is ruining our environment.
Karma Cup looks like an
Karma Cup looks like an elegant idea that shows in real time how the impact of such a small action adds up.
Also, simply making re-usable ceramic mugs the default option, as opposed to single-use paper cups, would have a huge impact. Walk into any Starbucks and 9 out of 10 people enjoying their coffee in the store are drinking out of single-use cups.
I would not want other
I would not want other people's used cups behind the counter at Starbucks. I don't even think it's legal according the health safety laws in most states.
Do you think you've got brand
Do you think you've got brand new plates, cups, glasses each time you seat at a table in a restaurant?
Two other ways that I would
Two other ways that I would have offered are
1) Employee training. Starbucks trains their partners to reach for the paper cup and sleeves before the ceramic mugs. Which results in a massive amount of in-store waste.
2) Changing the pricing structure of their coffees to so customers pay the price of the cup. For example, instead of giving a quarter back to the person who brings in a cup, charge .25USD to Everyone who does not and instead of charging 3USD for a latte, charge 2.75. The effective price does not change, but the psychology of the purchase does.
r
www.collectiveresponsibility.org
i find this article to be
i find this article to be very interesting and i think there is great logic behind the idea of starbucks cutting down on their paper use. Every effort to go green is a wonderful and beneficial effort. another one of my favorite websites, http://www.thenextgreatgeneration.com/, also covers many more environmental/various other categories of pressing issues.
All this talk about their
All this talk about their cups being recyclable but are their current cups even made out of recycled material (I know the sleeves are but what about the cups)?