Starbucks launched an experiment this week at London’s Gatwick airport to see whether they could incentivize customers to use returnable cups in an effort to cut down on the 7 million paper coffee cups that travelers there use each year – even though the vast majority of those are recycled. The trial will offer passengers the opportunity to borrow and return refillable cups for free as a way to cut waste and tackle “throwaway” culture. According to Bloomberg, the airport wants to improve and reusable cups potentially have a lower carbon footprint than paper cups. There is already a 6 cent fee for disposable cups in U.K. shops and the funds from this fee were donated to environmental charity Hubbub, which is running the program at Gatwick. They are hoping to expand it to other transportation hubs if it proves successful.
June 10, 2019 »
