Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's worth pointing out that the obvious alternative, reusable to-go cups, need to solve an additional set of challenges: - Must NOT violate sanitization of the work area; cups provided by customers should not pose any health risks to workers or other customers. - Should be durable enough to survive repeated visits - Either the reusable cup must conform to a standard size, baristas need a way to measure liquids consi…
From what I've read the reusables have to be used ~70 times to be more environmentally friendly than the current disposables. I think the easiest win would be designating between sit down and take out customers. Sit down customers could be given porcelain or some other washable container. However this would increase labor costs for businesses so you don't automatically get a free win.
Another commenter linked to a research paper [1] that includes this number. It's worth noting a few things:
* This was comparing ceramic mugs versus disposable cups. They assumed that reusable plastic cups would be more favorable (but did not opine on travel mugs, which are the more reasonable substitute among to-go customers).
* The study was done by Starbucks, among other organizations (may have a bias to make disposable paper look not-so-bad).
* Another study apparently showed 1,000 use threshold, but the author of the below-linked paper considered that study to insufficiently account for all of the costs of paper cups (deforestation, etc.).
full text:
* There has been a long-standing debate over the comparative energy-efficiencies of disposable products and reusable dishware. A study that is frequently cited is one conducted by Martin Hocking, a professor at The University of Victoria in British Columbia. Hocking (1994) reports that one would have to use a reusable cup as much as 1,000 times in order to justify the higher energy requirement during production. Yet this study omits the impacts of deforestation, transportation, packaging, and disposal; a more complete picture is needed to truly debate the environmental costs of disposable versus reusable cups. Starbucks teamed up with the Alliance for Environmental Innovation to more accurately compare the two, naming reusable products the more environmentally-friendly option (Alliance for Environmental Innovation, 2000). Their study found that using ceramic mugs in place of disposable cups would reduce resource consumption and pollution to an astounding extent, even including the impacts of manufacturing, use, and dishwashing.*
1: http://www.recyclingadvocates.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03...