Starbucks and McDonald's cooperate to test environmental cups with RFID chips or QR codes in response to plastic restrictions

What if a coffee cup could be reused instead of thrown away? Recently, an article titled "Don't throw the cup: McDonald's and Starbucks are developing reusable cups" published by Bloomberg (Bloomberg) shows that in addition to providing a variety of business resources, the technologies of RFID, QR codes and digital printing It can also help the brand's sustainable development and promote environmentally friendly practices such as recycling.

According to the article, this vision was the basis for the two-year NextGen Cup Challenge pilot project led by Starbucks and McDonald's. The test will introduce two reusable smart cups at cafes in San Francisco and Palo Alto, California. The new cups are mostly plastic with RFID chips or QR codes that can be used for identification and tracking. Among them, the cups tried by the coffee shop in San Francisco are composed of QR codes, which can be scanned when picking up or putting down the cups, and then place the cups at the designated drop position. And coffee drinkers in Palo Alto scan RFID (radio frequency identification) tags at pickup or drop-off points, then stack the cups when they're done.

The two companies use billions of paper cups each year (the exact number has not been released), most of which are plastic-coated, making them nearly impossible to recycle. "Eliminating this waste will go a long way towards meeting the environmental goals each company has set," said Bloomberg's Emily Chasan. The group also plans to try out some new single-use, compostable and recyclable glasses in Auckland.

The goal of reducing carbon emissions may not be an ideal material choice, as any single-use cup has drawbacks, whether paper, aluminum or plastic. Instead, the group aims to make the cups durable and create a system for recycling. Therefore, it must be collected, cleaned, redistributed and tracked digitally—a complex process.

The initiative involves a reusable coffee cup called CupClub, which aims to replace the billions of disposable coffee cups that are thrown away every year. According to the CupClub project, in the future, when consumers order coffee at McDonald's or Starbucks, they can drink it from the cup they used before.

“Five years ago, this kind of reusable technology didn't exist,” the CEO of a private equity firm said in an interview. The pilot project also included tests of the public and the new cup: people would choose to put the cup Return to the designated recycling place instead of throwing it in the trash? When people are done using the cups, they are scattered across the city at yellow recycling bins. The cups are then placed in a van and sent to be washed. Cups with RFID tags can be scanned as they pass through certain points, such as a coffee shop counter or a collection point.

Currently, consumer experience is becoming the top priority of people's attention. Therefore, neither the best way to identify and track activities nor to guarantee the authenticity of products in order to reduce a company's environmental impact is as important as focusing on how people react to these initiatives. Therefore, the best projects in the 21st century are undoubtedly those that increase customer satisfaction.