In July 2024, China’s central authorities released the Opinions on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transformation ofEconomic and Social Development, marking the start of a new and more comprehensive phase in the country’s green and lowcarbon transition. On the production side, it highlights the acceleration of new industries, business models, and value chainsaligned with green and low-carbon development, while leveraging digital technologies to drive innovation. On the consumptionside, it stresses the expansion of sustainable product supply, the strengthening of incentive mechanisms, and the mainstreamingof green consumption. Together, these policy directions create an enabling environment for all sectors to explore and scale lowcarbon, circular, and innovation-driven models of operation. China’s food delivery and freshly prepared beverage sectors are at the intersection of rapid growth and structuraltransformation. As consumption volumes continue to expand, there is a pressing need for a transition toward greener and moresustainable operations. The surge in takeaway beverage consumption has led to a dramatic increase in single-use plasticpackaging, now a major source of municipal waste. While recycling remains an essential measure, it is far from sufficient toaddress the root of the problem. In an era of increasing resource and energy constraints, waste prevention and reuse offer themost effective pathways to preserve material value, reduce waste generation and public management costs, and stimulateinnovation and entrepreneurship. As a digitally enabled business model, reuse offers innovative solutions for the food and beverage sector’s green transition anddelivers new experiences for consumers. Within this broader shift toward reuse, reusable cup systems have shown particularlystrong momentum in recent years. Across both Western and Asia-Pacific markets, reusable cup programs have been widelyimplemented and continuously optimized—from coffee chains and university canteens to large-scale venues and officebuildings—demonstrating strong commercial viability and user acceptance. This report presents a systematic overview of more than 70 reusable cup programs worldwide, primarily distributed acrossNorth America, Europe, and parts of the Asia-Pacific region. These programs have evolved into a range of mature models ----spanning closed-loop systems, open-loop systems, and city-level networks ---- with some achieving multi-country expansion oroperation at the scale of thousands of outlets.

THE REUSEN SHIFTE - Reusable Cup Pilot Research and OperationalGuidelines.pdf