Next month, more than 30 chain restaurants and locally owned coffee shops and eateries in Petaluma, California, will begin providing beverages in reusable cups by default as part of a first-of-its-kind pilot program meant to reduce pollution from single-use plastic.
Through the Petaluma Reusable Cup Project — a three-month pilot program sponsored by a food and beverage industry group called the NextGen Consortium — customers will be served hot and cold beverages in bright purple reusable plastic cups, unless they ask for disposables or bring their own mugs. After drinking their coffees, teas, or sodas, they'll be able to return the cups at any of the participating establishments, or at one of 60 return receptacles placed strategically throughout the city.
