My wife was giving a webinar last weekend and I wanted to take the kids out of the house so she could work in peace. It was a beautiful day, so a 15-minute walk to the new Juice Bar in town was welcomed. I brought my reusable cups, my metal straws, and a Hydroflask to keep my wife’s smoothie cold on the walk home.

I should have checked the website because the new juice place was closed. So was the other juice place in town.

No worries- we hopped in the car and drove over to the juice/smoothie spot in a neighboring town. I got the kids masked up and we headed in with our sustainable products to place our order. The person behind the counter (barista?) wasn’t as excited by the reusable cups as I was, but honored my request to use the items I brought.  

....Here’s where my good intentions turned into an overflow of waste.

I watched as the barista filled 4 plastic cups with the correct amount of fruit/veggies for each drink. She then took the contents of those cups and placed them in the blender....and threw away the four plastic cups....right in the garbage....as I watched.... in horror.

Then, after the fruits/veggies were placed in the blender, she put the smoothies into 4 NEW plastic cups (it seemed as if she was unsure if she could pour directly from the blender to my reusable cups). From there, she poured the contents of those plastic cups into my reusable cups and....threw away 4 more plastic cups.

My goal of saving 4 plastic cups resulted in the barista throwing away 8 plastic cups.

What went wrong?

An inflexible process will typically beat good intentions. However, I can’t blame this on anyone but myself. I assumed that the environment was arranged to support my sustainable behaviors and I assumed that the contingencies that maintained the barista’s behavior were the same as mine. And I was wrong.

The environment was not arranged to support the use of the reusable items that I brought in.

The process was created with the plastic cups serving a specific purpose. They were not only used to hold the finished product, but they were also used as a measurement tool to ensure the right amount of fruits/vegetables were placed in the blender.

The contingencies that maintained the barista’s behavior were not the same as those that maintained my behavior.  She was under the watchful eye of her manager and their goal was to use the right amount of product and maximize revenue. My goal was to save a few plastic cups.

What have I learned?

1) Plan ahead.

The next time I want to “go green” in a new place, I will either:

(a) call ahead and ask if they suggest bringing in reusable items, or

(b) go in to see how things are done and determine if their process would allow for reusable items.

3) Don’t assume everyone has the same reinforcers.

My first mistake was assuming that the barista was primarily worried about reducing waste. While we ended up at the same end product (drinks in reusable cups), we inadvertently created twice as much waste in the process. I assumed that the barista wanted to save the planet with me, but maybe she just wanted to finish my order and move on to help the next customer. I made her job more difficult and more wasteful.

Your Thoughts?

Have you had any experiences like this? Do you have ideas on how we can avoid situations like this in the future? We’d love to hear more about your ideas and experiences. Please leave a comment or send us a note!

Brian V. Jadro, Ph.D., LABA, BCBA-D