Blue Bottle Coffee plans to go zero waste by end of 2020
Blue Bottle will start a pilot program in the U.S. where they will end single-use to-go cups in an effort to reduce waste.
OAKLAND, Calif. - In an effort to reduce waste and address climate change, Oakland-based Blue Bottle Coffee is pledging for all its cafes to go zero waste by the end of 2020 as part of a pilot program.
"By the end of 2020, all of our U.S. cafes will be zero waste, which according to Zero Waste International Alliance, means at least 90% of our waste is diverted from landfill," company CEO Bryan Meehan said in a statement released on Monday.
Customers will either have to bring their own cup or put down a deposit for an "on-site cup" that can be returned to one of their stores for cleaning.
Blue Bottle said they go through an average 15,000 disposable single-use cups per cafe per month in the U.S. alone. That adds to about 12 million cups per year, many of which end up in landfills they said.
The company will first test the idea at one of its Bay Area locations.
Blue Bottle, which is majority owned by Nestle, has nearly 70 cafes in the U.S.