During the final week of Earth Month, we’re addressing single-use coffee cup waste. We are proud to announce our new partnership with the local cup exchange program- Good to Go Cups!
founded by reuse advocates and minnesota natives
Founded in 2022 by Minnesota natives and sustainability advocates Michelle and Melissa, Good to Go Cups (GtGC) is a cup exchange program created to address the problem of the high volume of waste created by single-use coffee cups. Drink, return, repeat! To keep their footprint as small as possible, they innovated their own reusable coffee cup. The 16 oz. cups are made from a cutting-edge compostable polymer, which is high-heat tolerant.
how it works
Available at both Wedge stores, the program is coordinated through a mobile app. To start, download the “Good to Go Cups” app and choose your membership level. Try it out starting at $1.99 for five uses! Once you’ve signed up, ask a Deli staff person for your Good to Go cup and scan the QR code on the sign by the coffee station. This code is like a check in- it helps GtGC to manage cup inventory and monitor uses. When you scan that code, that confirms your cup exchange on the app. The flexibility of this program allows you to use your cup at any participating shop- at either Wedge location, or any other participating coffee shop. There are 20+ shops around Minnesota that participate, including our friends at Caphin Mpls! Just let them know you’re a Good to Go Cups member when ordering your coffee.
did you know?
Billions of single-use coffee cups are discarded globally every year:
- While we offer fully compostable single-use coffee cups, plastic-coated paper coffee cups (non-compostable) take more than 20 years to decompose in landfills and are major contributors to the pollution of land, rivers, and oceans.
- Sixteen billion paper cups are used for coffee every single year, which leads to 6.5 million trees cut down, 4 billion gallons of water going to waste, and enough energy to power 54,000 homes for a year.
- If 250 customers opt for a reusable cup each day, over 7,000 paper cups would be saved in one month.
once you’re done
When you’re finished, you can return your cup to our deli staff to wash & sanitize. Not finished with your drink? That’s fine! Feel free to take the cup out of the store to drink your beverage anywhere. When you’ve finished your drink, return your cup to a participating coffee shop. When you order your next drink at Wedge or another shop, it will be served in a clean Good to Go Cup. Then at the end of a cup’s life, GtGC will collect it to return to the manufacturer. It will be ground up and produced into a new cup — a true closed-loop system and a step toward a more circular economy. Learn more and get the app here!
FAQs
Don’t want to take a cup home with you?
Leave it at the coffee counter. There will be a clean Good to Go cup ready for you next time you come to order a coffee. When you order, just let our staff know you’re part of Good to Go Cups!
Left the cup in your car or forgot it at home?
No worries! Bring it to a participating shop and exchange it for a new drink in a clean Good To Go Cup.
At the coffee counter and realize you haven’t returned your last cup?
No problem! Good To Go Cups lets you forget your cup three times, so in those moments of forgetfulness or impromptu coffee stops, you can still avoid wasteful single-use cups.