HOW IT WORKS 

Coffee shops would no longer use disposable paper cups. The consumer would be expected to buy their own cup for a low cost and continue to use it.

 From there, the plan works in 3 ways:

1. You can either GIVE the barista your clean cup. The barista would then fill your cup with the coffee you ordered and send you on your way.

 2. You can bring in your dirty cup, GIVE it to the barista for the café to wash and give to someone else. The Barista would then fill a clean cup (previously brought in by someone else) with the coffee you ordered and you would TAKE that cup with you.

 OR…

 3.) If you don’t already have a cup to give the barista, you can buy one. 

ABOUT THE CUPS

The cups would be very similar to the paper cups we currently use except they’d be made of recycled plastic and be regulated. The cups would ALWAYS cost the same, be affordable (even cheap), and come in the same sizes tall, grande etc. The only thing that would be different about the cups is their decoration.

In order for people to be willing to give their cups away, they need to feel like they aren’t getting ripped off or losing anything of value. When the cups cost the same, from coffee shop to coffee shop, the consumer knows that they can’t get a better deal anywhere else and their experience of going to the coffee shop isn’t inhibited by the added price of a cup. They’ll also be more likely to accept the idea of giving away their cup, and accepting a new one.

BENEFITS

Because coffee shops would only use these re-usable coffee cups, in the place of paper cups that instead of being thrown away after each individual use, would be kept and brought back by the consumer, the system would be zero-waste and hold people accountable for their actions by making them aware of each time they have to buy a new cup. It would also raise awareness of the over-use of paper cups by forcing people to buy new cups if they don’t bring their old ones back.