Earlier this week, Dunkin' announced that 100 percent of its restaurants have now completed the transition from polystyrene foam cups to paper cups. The brand is also looking to transition to recyclable hot coffee lids by the end of the summer in U.S. restaurants and doubling the number of DD Green Achievement restaurants within five years.
The new cups being used for all the brand's hot beverages, coffee, espresso drinks, tea, and hot chocolate, were made with paperboard certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Standards. This transition to paper cups will remove about one billion foam cups from the waste stream every year. Even though Dunkin' may still have some foam cups in their inventory, the brand's distribution centers will no longer offer them, only making the paper cups available to their franchisees. The hot coffee lids mentioned above are planned to finish the transition by the end of this summer and can be recycled in cities and towns that offer number five recycling. By the end of the year, Dunkin' will also make all Keurig K-Cup pods sold in-store and on shelves at grocery stores recyclable.
"Even in challenging times like these, sustainability remains a key priority for Dunkin'," Scott Murphy, president, Dunkin' Americas, said in a press release. "We are proud of our accomplishments but recognize that making a meaningful difference requires commitment and continuous improvement. We will build on our momentum and do our part to take care of the world around us because it matters to us, our franchisees, our guests, and our communities."
The other aspect of this announcement was Dunkin's plan to double the amount of DD Green Achievement restaurants. The DD Green Achievement program started in 2014 to help the brand build more sustainable and energy-efficient restaurants. In 2016, the brand set the goal to open 500 of those restaurants and it has hit that goal early. Dunkin' is now setting a new goal, and that is to open 500 more DD Green Achievement restaurants by the end of 2025, to make 1,000 total.
These restaurants, according to the Dunkin' press release, are built with "LED lighting, high-efficiency mechanical equipment, low-flow faucets, and more sustainable features. DD Green Achievement restaurants, which were designed to save between 15 to 20 percent of energy use as compared to traditional Dunkin' restaurants, have proven to save approximately 33 percent of energy use, on average, when compared to conventional Dunkin' locations, outperforming design anticipations."