Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News

~ John W. Howell
http://www.returnmycup.com

 

Today, good news comes from the Good News Network.

City Experiments with Reusable Cups at Starbucks, Taco Bell, and 30 Other Restaurants–with Return Bins all over town

By Andy Corbley –

A consortium of small firms is creating a renewable revolution within the boundaries of a small city in Northern California. The city will be the testbed for a use-and-return concept for fast food drinks.

Around 50 billion disposable drink cups are used every year in the US, but in the city of Petaluma, we will see if Americans have the discipline to reduce this footprint.

The city has around 60,000 people and will participate in the Reuseable Cup Project. The aim is to furnish 30 local restaurants, from Starbucks to Taco Bell, with identical, durable plastic drink cups. Customers and diners can use these cups and then either leave them on the table or deposit them in a network of dropoff bins around the city.

NextGen Consortium, led by the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners investment firm, asked the city government for help identifying partner restaurants. A firm called Muuse will provide professional cleaning and distribution services to redeliver the cleaned cups back to the locations.

“What they’ve told us they like about Petaluma is that there’s already a spirit of sustainability in Petaluma and [an] interest in trying to reduce the amount of waste that we’re creating collectively as a city,” Patrick Carter, assistant of the city manager who oversees the program, said in a phone call with FOX Business.

“They liked the combination of kind of a denser downtown, more businesses together that are serving these drinks, these beverages, but with a smaller population.”

Located between Santa Rosa and San Francisco, Petaluma’s residents will not be charged a penny more for their drinks and are only asked to drop them off in one of the networks of bins when they are finished. A map showing the locations of the bins can be found on the project website.

Along with reducing cup waste, it should also reduce the number of throwaway hot drink sleeves since the cups themselves are more durable and less conductive to heat.

A three-month trial starting on August 5 and running into November will provide NextGen with the data it needs to understand whether such a program can be used in larger cities.

The good news in this article is that the government, community, and individuals are all working together to eliminate waste. Today’s JohnKu talks about cooperation. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Together by John W. Howell © 2024

Projects done alone,

Require increased energy . . .

Better to have help.

61 thoughts on “Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News”

  5. It will be interesting to follow this story. See how many disciplined people are out there. I don’t doubt some of these cups will land in the trash instead of the proper bins but if the grand majority do the right thing, this could be more than fabulous.

    Thanks for sharing this good news, John!

    Like

  9. Everything is cyclical, isn’t it? We couldn’t embrace the fast food throwaway concept fast enough; now, it looks like the old-timers (with returnable milk and soda bottles) were right all along. Interesting piece of news, John, and it will be even more interesting to see if it’s successful.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. I hope this pilot project is successful, so it then expands to many other cities. It makes me think of, years ago, when grocery stores started charging for plastic and paper bags. More people started using tote bags. Now I use tote bags, and I like seeing when other customers use them, too.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Bravo Petaluma! When I worked downtown, there was a Starbucks in my building. All of us who would down for a latte brought our own cups to reduce our disposable footprint. Let’s hope it’s a successful cooperation between the various entities.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. It is encouraging to learn of several entities collaborating for the greater good and sustainability, and of course great news for the environment. Good luck to them and may others learn and duplicate. Thanks John!

    Liked by 1 person

  21. That’s an interesting initiative. When ice cream was new and before they invented things like sugar cones they used reusable cups, but the difference was that they did not wash them in between. The concept of hygiene was not as evolved. As a result ice cream vendors spread diseases.

    Liked by 1 person

  23. A wonderful idea!

    I’m all for waste reduction. I don’t buy any containers I can’t put in the recycler.

    You know, I live across the intersection from a McDonalds. In front of my place is a streetcar stop, and a bin with openings for Trash & Recycling.

    Still, I can’t tell you how many people just toss their take out stuff on my step.

    Some people should get educated.

    Anyway, love the concept and your JohnKu.

    Way2go!

    OX OX OX

    Liked by 1 person

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