Ditching the Foam

Dunkin’ Donuts has started testing a double-walled paper cup in its search to replace its foam cups.

August 28, 2013

BROOKLINE, Mass. – The quest to replace its foam cups began a few years ago, and now Dunkin’ Donuts has begun a test run of a double-walled paper cup at five Brookline, Massachusetts, locations, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Currently, more than 1.7 billion coffee cups are sold annually at the donut chain, the vast majority in foam cups.

Part of the impetus to test in Brookline is that city’s ordnance banning Styrofoam containers on Dec. 1. However, the cups being tested have a plastic lining, which could make it difficult to recycle. “This is our first step in ultimately finding the ideal solution,” said Dunkin’ Donuts spokeswoman Michelle King.

Dunkin’ Donuts plans to have a different, non-foam cup in service within two to three years. The company has strict criteria for such a cup: it must not heat hands, it must keep the coffee hot, it must be inexpensive and it must be more environmentally friendly, such as recyclable.

Other chains have ditched the foam long ago. Starbucks uses paper cups and McDonald’s launched a massive pilot program on paper cups in 2012. “This is an important and complicated issue, and we want to take every step to make sure that we get this right,” said King. “We are willing to make changes when we feel confident that we're making changes that are right for our brand, our customers, our franchisees, and the environment.

“The fact is that there is no single-use hot coffee cup on the market today that is able to be easily recycled. So we are proactively researching possible alternatives to address the issue and examining every commercially available cup and material. This test is part of that larger effort.”

The search for a better paper coffee cup is part of an overall growing trend of municipalities banning foam containers, such as Baltimore; Cupertino, New York; Manhattan Beach, California; and Portland, Maine. Meanwhile, New York City announced a potential ban on Styrofoam containers earlier this summer, and Haiti recently started cracking down on violators of its foam and plastic bag ban.

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