It’s common knowledge that the pandemic resulted in many people staying home more than ever before. We did school via Zoom and created home offices. We shopped online more than ever before and we think we finally got to the end of Netflix.

One result of the pandemic that isn’t talked about all that much is that it also resulted in a lot of waste. Instead of using reusable shopping bags at the grocery store, we were given one-time-use plastic bags to carry our drive-up order home. Instead of bringing a reusable coffee cup to Starbucks, we were given a disposable one to throw away when we’re done.

We understand that as far as health and safety are concerned, a reusable product brought concerns for stores and restaurants. Throwing something away and giving each customer something disposable seemed more sanitary, yet wasteful.

Now that things are turning around for the positive, we can go back to using our reusable products as well. Starbucks has announced that starting June 22, 2021, customers can once again get their coffee order poured into their reusable coffee cups. Yet, the process of using a reusable coffee cup is going to be a little bit different than it was pre-pandemic.

According to the announcement by Starbucks, “As part of Starbucks ongoing commitment to prioritizing partner and customer safety, the company developed a completely contactless, new method – eliminating any shared touch points between the customer and Starbucks partners (baristas).”

If you would like to use a reusable coffee cup at Starbucks, here are the steps you’ll need to follow. First, make sure you bring in a clean cup. Give the barista your cup so he or she can check for cleanliness, but do not give the barista the lid; you keep that. The barista will put your reusable cup into a ceramic mug while preparing your coffee order. When your order is ready, you will take your cup out of the ceramic mug and put the lid on yourself.

Anyone who choses to use a reusable coffee cup at Starbucks will have ten cents deducted from their order.

What do you think of Starbucks’ plan to reintroduce reusable coffee cups? Are you planning to start using a reusable coffee cup when you visit Starbucks after June 22nd? Besides offering ten cents off the coffee order, what else do you think Starbucks could do to motivate customers to cut down on waste by using reusable coffee cups?