Starbucks Korea reduces waste with reusable tumblers as other coffee shops create more trash

Starbucks and A Twosome Place are the only ones of South Korea’s 10 top coffee shop franchises that are selling tumblers and flasks with replaceable tumbler parts that could help reduce waste.

Most coffee shops offer discounts for bringing in multi-use cups, as part of their efforts the use of paper, plastic, and other disposable materials.

Thus, many customers purchase tumblers at the coffee store to use them to buy drinks.

However, the rubber gaskets for tumblers sold by the coffee shops, which should be replaced regularly, aren’t readily available.

Rubber gaskets maintain the drink’s temperature and prevent the beverage from leaking out.

Many customers end up throwing away their tumblers when the rubber gasket is no longer usable, which defeats the purpose of reducing waste.

As a consequence, most South Korean coffee shop franchises that sell tumblers and flasks but fail to sell replaceable parts, such as rubber gaskets, are creating unnecessary waste.

To overcome ‘greenwashing’ criticism, experts advise the coffee shops to offer rubber gaskets.