Considering that the average New Yorker can drink several gallons of coffee a day, you can imagine the amount of disposable java cups clogging up our landfills. So could a coffee cup-sharing program, like Citi Bike but for cups, be the solution? Good to Go is a bold new idea that the Brooklyn Roasting Company is currently piloting in partnership with DO School entrepreneurs. The cup-sharing program is the Dumbo coffee company’s attempt to cut down its paper cup waste. Read on to find out how it works.
The Dumbo coffee shop is kicking off its cup-sharing program with a special pilot event that’s being held until the end of today at 25 Jay Street Café. Coffee drinkers who want to try the program can do so by buying a $5 plastic cup that’s blue and sturdy just like a Citi Bike. As an incentive, the first cup of java is on the house and future drinks will be 25 cents off. After chugging down some mud, customers can return the cup to the café or another drop-off location. Don’t forget to hold onto the lid, because it proves you’re in the program and lets you sip coffee from your own personal mouthpiece.
Brooklyn Roasting Company co-owner Jim Munson shared with The NY Daily News that paper cup waste is the coffee business’s dirty secret. By Munson’s own estimate, the Brooklyn Roasting Company’s shops on Jay Street and in the Navy Yard go through roughly 11,000 paper cups a week.
So far, the Brooklyn Roasting Company already has over 200 cup sharers, according to the Daily News. In the future, the Dumbo coffee company and DO School hope their pet project expands to become a citywide initiative. And if you’re not that comfortable with sharing coffee cups with all your neighbors, there are plenty of personal reusable cups you can buy and baristas will be more than happy to refill them for you.
Images © Brooklyn Roasting Company and DO School
