Loud cheers may be heard from Starbucks-crazed students rejoicing as their morning coffee run just got a little cheaper. With Starbucks’ new reusable cup promotion, customers receive a discount on drink purchases when they bring their own reusable cup, mug or travel tumbler. For only one dollar, Starbucks’ patrons may purchase durable, plastic tumblers that resemble the disposable cups in use today. With a goal to serve 5% of beverages in personal cups by 2015, the company pledges to save 10 cents and a paper cup each time.
“Even though ten cents doesn’t seem like that much, it adds up if you’re like me and need a morning caffeine fix,” junior Nicolas Salman said. “Caring for the environment is actually saving me money.”
The movement away from throwaway beverage containers and toward reusable cups and bottles has caught on among Palmetto students. Increasingly, students opt to use refillable water bottles, ditching their generic disposable bottles for new, eco-friendly alternatives. Especially trendy are CamelBak brand bottles, available in a variety of designs and colors and priced from nine to 35 dollars online.
“I’ve noticed that a lot of my friends and classmates started buying CamelBaks after they became popular at school,” junior Francesca Castan said. “It’s good for the environment because they reduce litter from plastic water bottles.”
Even this year’s business management class entered the reusable bottle campaign as they sold red water bottles labeled “Bow Down” for six dollars each. An instant success, the fundraising item quickly gained popularity among seniors who enjoyed their environmental appeal and wanted to purchase a keepsake of their high school years.
“We wanted to sell a product that would cater to the student population at Palmetto since a lot of them regularly use water bottles,” senior Joseph Bonner, member of Strictly Panther Business said. “We made the bottle red and labeled it ‘Bow Down’ to create a product that seniors can identify with and would purchase as a symbol of their last year in high school.”
