A promising concept to come out of the NextGen Cup Challenge will be trialled from 9 March by Starbucks in select stores in Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, New York and London.
The new cup is made of paper and features a bio-PBS lining, instead of the LDPE coating that is commonly used. Bio-PBS is partly or even wholly renewably sourced and is available in industrially compostable and home compostable grades.
The NextGen Consortium and Cup Challenge is an initiative of Starbucks and McDonald’s, who, in 2018, committed $10 million in partnership with Closed Loop Partners to establish the project.
The NextGen Cup Challenge began with a six-month design competition that received hundreds of ideas from industry experts and cup scientists alike. The consortium then picked 12 winning teams to further work with on their potential to serve as solutions for various business models. Among the winners was the recyclable, compostable BioPBS cup submitted by PTT MCC Biochem Company Limited, Thailand.
PTTMCC operates the largest bio-based PBS plant in the world in Rayong, Thailand and has been focusing efforts on the development of bio-BPS applications since 2015. In March 2019, Starbucks announced that it would conduct market tests with the various winning cup technologies in a small number of stores.
Next to the present trial, therefore, the company will continue to evaluate additional NextGen Cup Challenge winning concepts and cup technologies, to find the most sustainable solutions for its business, partners (employees) and customers.