How climate change is inspiring us to waste less and do more

By Blue Bottle CEO Bryan Meehan

Single-use packaging is clearly damaging our planet. Plastic water bottles, plastic coffee cups, straws, food packaging, bags—all are bought and thrown away in an endless cycle of thoughtless consumption. Since disposables were introduced in the 1950s, we have grown accustomed to a disposable life, with little thought as to what happens to the materials we use after we throw them in the trash. 

And at Blue Bottle, we’re not afraid to admit that we’re part of the problem. We recently woke up to the fact that our beautiful bioplastic cups and straws were not being composted even though they were 100 percent compostable. Too many ended up in landfills, where they couldn’t break down at all. So we switched to paper straws and sugarcane-paper cups. But that’s still not enough. We still go through on average 15,000 disposable single-use cups per cafe per month in the US alone, which adds up to 12 million cups per year. We want to show our guests and the world that we can eliminate disposable cups as we serve our delicious coffee.

We are proud to announce an experiment that may not work, that may cost us money, and that may make your life a little more complicated. 

By the end of 2020, all of our US cafes will be zero waste, which according to Zero Waste International Alliance, means at least 90 percent of our waste is diverted from landfill. To help us go even further, we will test our first zero-single-use-cup program in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This pilot will celebrate reuse as an act of aesthetic delight. You can bring your own cup, or use one of ours. We will provide a beautiful cup that will require a modest deposit, which you can return to the cafe for cleaning. We’ll also sell our whole-bean coffees in bulk instead of single-use bags and our grab-and-go items in reusable containers. This pilot will help guide us on how to implement this program nationwide.

We make the promise to be zero waste next year with the goal of making further strides in sustainability in the years to come.

How does all this connect back to climate? According to Dr. M. Sanjayan, the CEO of our new sustainability partner, Conservation International, consumption of packaging and single-use items has a real impact on climate change: just under 30 percent of our nation’s greenhouse gases come from the way we make, consume, and dispose of stuff. “That’s more than the emissions that come from heating our homes or driving around in our cars,” he says.

Which means recycling alone can’t solve this problem. “Recycling is important, but the focus needs to be on the other two Rs: reduce and reuse,” says Sanjayan. “Efforts like the one Blue Bottle is piloting are really exciting to me because of how they engage consumers directly with being part of the solution. Yes, we need companies to make big changes, but we need consumers to change their behaviors too.”

We need to spark change, and not just at Blue Bottle, but also with our shareholders. Since 2017, when Nestlé acquired a 68 percent stake, Blue Bottle has remained a stand-alone company under my leadership. I’ve been impressed by Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider’s commitment to implement serious environmental change—not least with Nestlé’s recent pledge to become carbon-neutral by 2050. We are both determined that Nestlé’s past is not its future. Nestlé has also committed to make all its packaging reusable or recyclable by 2025. This kind of commitment creates positive change throughout many industries. Our role at Blue Bottle is to inspire Nestlé to do more. 

My three daughters have also helped spark this effort. They, like their whole generation, are angry and concerned about the health of our planet. They have led me to change my weekly grocery-shopping habits, to switch to shampoo and conditioner bars rather than disposable plastic bottles, and to start buying in bulk by using reusable glass bottles. It’s more time-consuming and requires planning, but it works. They are pushing me to do more at Blue Bottle. It’s not for commerce—it’s for their future. 

A commitment to reuse will wreak havoc on every aspect of our pilot cafe’s operations. We expect to lose some business. We might fail. We know some of our guests won’t like it—and we’re prepared for that. But the time has come to step up and do difficult things. It’s our responsibility to the next generation to change our behavior. It’s all hands on deck.