A&W launches Canada's first lidless, fully compostable coffee mug
On March 14, 2022, A&W Canada launched Canada's first lidless compostable coffee mug. On the same day, A&W Canada began a pilot rollout of the product with partner restaurants in Toronto.
An estimated 5 billion single-use cups end up in Canadian landfills each year. A&W's unique Zero Cup (zero waste cup) aims to solve this problem. It requires no lids or straws, no plastic coating, and is fully compostable and recyclable.
This Zero Cup is an innovative design by British company ButterflyCup. The product is made entirely of paper with a unique water-based coating that prevents leaks.
"A&W Canada serves millions of takeaway beverages every year, so finding a more sustainable solution for single-use cups made a lot of sense for the environment," said Susan Senecal, president and CEO of A&W Canada. An exciting step in the zero waste journey. This innovation will allow people to live more sustainable lives.”
A&W says the mass adoption of compostable coffee cups will help drastically reduce the number of single-use coffee cups that end up in landfills, avoiding the use of plastic laminations that cannot be recycled in most Canadian cities.
The Zero Cup is the latest step in A&W's long-term commitment to sustainable innovation.
In 2016, A&W became the first restaurant chain to join the Canadian Zero Waste Council; three years later, it became the first fast food restaurant to launch the Beyond Meat burger, and in 2019 it became the first fast food restaurant in North America to phase out single-use plastic straws shop.
