Dunkin's New Paper Coffee Cups To Replace Foam In All Mass. Stores
BOSTON (CBS) - There is a big change coming for Dunkin' coffee drinkers. If those foam cups haven't already disappeared from your corner coffee shop they are about to. They've already been replaced with new paper cups in many towns including Cambridge and Brookline. Every store in Massachusetts will make the switch by the end of this year.
"Get ready. It's happening," said Dunkin' Chief Operating Officer Scott Murphy.
Ten years of testing and tinkering went into the new design.
"You've got to find a product that performs as well, find one that is better for the environment, that costs the right amount, and frankly tests well with consumers," he told WBZ-TV.
And one that keeps the coffee hot but keeps your hand cool.
"We don't have a sleeve like some of our competitors do. You have a built in sleeve because it's a double wall. There's air in that layer between the two layers of paper and that's what provides pretty good insulation."
Just because its paper doesn't mean it can be recycled. It can't. Like most paper cups these will need to be tossed out in the trash just like the foam ones.
"The biggest advantage is they are made out of a renewable resources. I like to say you can plant another tree for the paper, but you can't plant another petroleum molecule for the styrofoam cup," explained Murphy.
But customers will be able to recycle the new lids that are also rolling out this year. The new lids will have a number 5 inside, that recycle symbol and little indents along the edge to keep the lid secure on the new paper cup.
Dunkin' is saying goodbye to the foam cup after a 20-year long run. Murphy told us customers shouldn't expect to have these new paper cups that long "I think the next solution, we don' t even know what it will be, but it will be out there soon."
The new paper cups won't mean an across the board price hike for coffee. But keep in mind, each franchise sets its own prices.
