Todd Giacometti
A successful reusable cup program doesn't happen by accident. It takes thoughtful planning, clear processes, and a team that understands how every step contributes to the system.
When McMenamins launched a reusable cup program with Bold Reuse across Edgefield, the results were immediate. In the first month, they achieved an average 94% cup return rate, which is an exceptional outcome for a new reuse program.
McMenamins delivered the operational foundation behind those results, working in close coordination with Bold Reuse to ensure the system was fully integrated rather than treated as an add-on that guests had to navigate on their own.
What made the difference? It wasn't luck, a single clever tactic, or a flawless rollout. It was a combination of operational decisions, leadership alignment, staff engagement, and consistent execution. Here are five practices that made it work.
1. Ownership: One Champion, Clear Accountability
Every successful reuse program has someone leading the charge. For McMenamins, that person was Scott Lipscomb, Sustainability Coordinator. Scott served as the primary point of contact between Bold Reuse and the many teams involved across McMenamins, including production, janitorial, security, marketing, and venue management.
Having a dedicated champion ensured nothing fell through the cracks between teams. Questions were answered quickly. Coordination happened before challenges became problems. And when adjustments were needed during an event, someone had both the context and the authority to act.
This is one of the most underestimated factors in a successful reuse program. The operational complexity of a reuse program requires clear ownership and accountability. Scott helped keep teams aligned and the program running smoothly from planning through execution.
2. Leadership Engagement from the Top Down
Reuse programs often stall not because the idea is flawed, but because the people running the project aren't fully behind it. That was never the case at McMenamins.
From the beginning, leadership was engaged at every level, including Owner Conners McMenamin, COO DJ Simcoe, General Manager Mel Jensen, and Director of Marketing Renee Rank Ignacio. Their support signaled that reuse was a business priority, not a side initiative. On opening night, the entire team was there, even participating in top sorting:
When ownership and operations leadership are aligned, it shapes the culture around the program. Staff take it seriously because their managers take it seriously. Resources get allocated. Decisions get made. Cross-functional teams work toward the same goal.
The McMenamins team treated reuse as the new standard, not an experiment. That commitment created the conditions for a successful launch and strong first-month results.
3. Bin Management and Sorted Waste Streams
Achieving high cup return rates start with making it easy for guests to return them, and just as easy for staff to sort and recover them efficiently.
McMenamins implemented front-of-house sorting at all bins during events, with janitorial crews actively managing bin custody and maintaining clear handoffs between teams. This prevented cups from getting buried under other waste or mixed into the wrong streams before they could be recovered.
To further reduce sorting errors, they used color-coded bins for different waste streams. Color coding is a simple intervention with an outsized impact: it removes ambiguity at every step of the process, from bin to back of house, and ensures cups end up where they need to go for cleaning and redeployment. Black bins were used for landfill waste, blue bins with cup holes for cans, and green bins with cup holes for reusable cups.
This kind of operational discipline in waste stream management is what separates a 60% return rate from a 94% return rate.
4. Managed Exits: Keeping Cups on Property
One of the most common sources of cup loss at live events is guests leaving with them. It happens without bad intent, as people are carrying a drink, they head toward the exit, and the cup leaves the property.
McMenamins addressed this by having security stationed at exits to ensure cups did not leave the venue. This managed exit approach is a meaningful operational commitment. It requires coordination between the reuse program and the security team, clear communication about what to look for, and staff who understand why it matters.
The result: cups that might otherwise have left the venue were returned on-site during the event before they were ever lost.
5. Signage That Closed the Loop with Guests
Guests want to do the right thing. Most of the time, they just need clarity on what that is.
McMenamins invested in clear, coordinated signage at both the point of sale and return bins. From the moment guests received their cup, they understood it was reusable and where to return it. Bin signage reinforced that message at the point of return.
This two-touch approach, at purchase and at disposal, closed the communication loop and removed one of the most common barriers to cup returns: guest uncertainty about what to do.
The Results
94% average cup return rate in month one
Consistent performance across multiple events
A reuse infrastructure that scales with McMenamins' calendar
McMenamins’ results reflect a system that worked as designed. Dedicated ownership, top-down leadership alignment, disciplined bin operations, managed exits, and clear guest communication all played a role, and together they reinforced one another.
For venues exploring reuse for the first time, or looking to improve their current results, McMenamins serves as a proof point for what strong operational design can achieve.
“It was important for us to connect with a program partner who knew how to ‘make sure that it actually worked for everybody, and that it actually accomplished the mission of saving the piles and piles of trash that we would take out of our venues,’ said Conners McMenamin, Owner and Vice President of McMenamins. ‘Bold Reuse has proved that over and over again.’”