With a single Blue Bottle Coffee cafe in the US disposing of roughly 15,000 single-use cups per month, Blue Bottle Coffee CEO Bryan Meehan was prompted to address the excessive waste issue.
“Single-use packaging is clearly damaging our planet,” stated Meehan. “Plastic water bottles, plastic coffee cups, straws, food packaging, bags—all are bought and thrown away in an endless cycle of thoughtless consumption. We have grown accustomed to a disposable life, with little thought as to what happens to the materials we use after we throw them in the trash. And at Blue Bottle, we’re not afraid to admit that we’re part of the problem.”
As part of the commitment to achieve zero waste for all US cafes by the end of 2020, Blue Bottle Coffe has begun testing for its zero-single-use-cup program in the San Francisco Bay Area.
“We want to show our guests and the world that we can eliminate disposable cups as we serve our delicious coffee,” said Meehan.
With single-use cups no longer available, customers will have the option to either bring in their own takeaway cups or simply sit down, relax, and use one of Blue Bottle Coffee’s in-house cup. Blue Bottle Coffe also offers a selection of reusable takeaway cups.
“Efforts like the one Blue Bottle is piloting are really exciting to me because of how they engage consumers directly with being part of the solution,” said Dr. M. Sanjayan, CEO of Conservation International. “Yes, we need companies to make big changes, but we need consumers to change their behaviors too.”
