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 numbers 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, which customers and diners can use and then either leave on the table, or deposit in a network of dropoff bins around the city.
…Petaluma’s residents will not be charged a penny more for their drinks…
YET.
There is no way this program can so much as break even without someone paying the bills.
Even if all the employees are volunteers, trucks that empty the bins and deliver the cups, plus washing equipment for said cups, rent for the space to house the trucks and washing equipment, maintenance, utilities, etc., aren’t free.
Don’t get me wrong. I’d like to see this program succeed and expand. Without knowing more about how they’re funded, though, I’m skeptical.
Should make it so you can just throw it in any no-sort recycling bin… Then collect them from the recycling center. No need for a whole new bin system.
closes the cupboard where he keeps all his stolen A&W mugs
Those bins are just gonna be filled with trash and there’s still gonna be these cups and other litter in the gutter.
Still. I think it’s a step in the right direction. Maybe it would really incentivize people if there was a small deposit
80/20 rule. If it is successful 80% of the time, it is actually a success. The 20 is how to hone the program, not how to point out how it will only fail.
I had to stop and check if this was an Onion article lmao.
Like, has any one of the dozen people that approved this actually met an American?
My God they’ve invented, cups. What geniuses they are
plastic cups. Surely plastic is the solution to pollution.
Why not just stop including drinks with meals. It’s half the reason we’re all so goddamn fat.
Or, you know, you can order without the drink…
Sugar is addictive and plenty of people lack self control. If you include a giant source of sugar with a meal for a few cents people are going to buy it. If you don’t include it you can increase public health and reduce pollution. Unfortunately people don’t like to be told what is good for them.
This only punishes those with financial ocd or lesser means. Those without self control will spend their money without control too. Plus you need cups for water too. People drink when they eat either way.
