Report shows Petaluma's reusable purple cup test was a success
Last fall, Petaluma was ground zero for an innovative experiment.
For 12 weeks, more than 30 downtown restaurants, cafes, ice cream shops, and delis swapped their single use cups for purple reusable ones, each one emblazoned with a catchy tagline: "Sip, Return, Repeat."
CBS News Bay Area went for a visit to the historic downtown for an unscientific check-in a couple of months after it started.
"I think this was a very exciting thing to be part of to be the only city in the country to do this," proclaimed Ashley Harris. Harris is a manager at the Petaluma Coffee & Tea Company.
"I really liked it. There were a million places where you could put the cup back," noted resident Kadi Newlan, who was relaxing on the stairs of the historic Petaluma Library.
"I always got the purple cup. I thought it was like really convenient," said Sonoma County resident Dyllan Hersey, sipping a coffee outside.
Over at the legendary frozen-treat spot Once Upon A Slush, owner Dave Pokorny was preparing a colorful slushy beverage.
"I don't know overall how it went in the city, but it seemed like people were aware of the program," he explained.
Now, hot off the presses, a new report backs that up all these comments.
"It was surprising and encouraging to see how quickly consumers embraced the change," exclaimed Carolina Lobel. Lobel is a senior director at the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners The group along with the NextGen Consortium is responsible for the project.
In the report, researchers detail how they found more than 80% of Petaluma residents were very aware of the project. They knew how to return the cups for wash, sterilization, repacking, and reuse; and they wanted the service to continue.
"We haven't seen that level of community engagement, awareness, understanding, satisfaction, and pride. Petaluma was very proud of the project," commented Lobel.
The research found how 81% of users returned at least one of the purple cups. And more than 51% of the cups -- that's about a quarter million cups -- were kept out of landfill.
Lobel told CBS News Bay Area how the return rates exceeded what is called the "environmental break point" which means enough cups were returned to call the project successful.
"And that's not something we've seen in a reuse system before," said Lobel.
The group will soon roll out longer-term projects in other cities.
As for Petaluma, the experiment is over. Harris told us that during the experiment, those who didn't want hot beverage in the plastic cups brought their own beverage containers. Now that the experiment is over, customers are going back to using single-use cups.
Harris had an outstanding question considering the report: "Now, what do we do with it, as a community," she asked.
Lobel had promising news for her, as well as the rest of Petaluma.
"We are working with our private and public partners on a continuation plan. So stay tuned," she remarked.
One potential funding mechanism is California's Plastic Pollution and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act or SB 54. The law shifts the plastics pollution burden from consumers to producers by raising $5 billion from industry members over 10 years.
Another potential source of money: the less trash picked up, the higher potential for a reduced refuse bill.
