When it comes to our impact on the environment, we recognize that what we do today will matter tomorrow. Guided by our Serving Responsibly commitment, we actively work to make business decisions that serve the interests of our guests, franchisees, communities and the planet today and for years to come – by reducing our packaging, improving the efficiency of our restaurants, and sourcing our ingredients more sustainably.
Sustainable Packaging
At Dunkin’ Brands, we are always looking for opportunities to make improvements to our packaging that make sense for the planet and for our business. To this end, we evaluate our packaging on an ongoing basis with suppliers and discuss opportunities to decrease the amount of material in our packaging; increase the amount of recycled and/or certified material in our packaging; and find packaging options that are recyclable, compostable, biodegradable or a combination of those.
Since 2005, we have made a number of important packaging improvements in the U.S., including:
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2005: Began sourcing a four-cup carrier made of recycled newsprint.
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2009: Transitioned to napkins made with 100% recycled paper and added recycled content to espresso sleeves, cup carriers and Box O’ Joe®.
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2014: Transitioned to bagel bags made with 100% recycled paper, saving an estimated 20 million pounds of virgin paper per year.
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2015: Began transition of the lids for cold beverage cups from PET to recyclable #5 polypropylene, a change that will take 500,000 pounds of material out of the waste stream per year once completed in summer 2018.
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2016: Issued a new Sustainable Pulp and Paper Sourcing policy with a goal to source paperboard certified to the SFI Standard for 80% of its consumer-facing fiber-based packaging by the end of 2018.
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2018: Began transition of hot beverage cups from polystyrene foam to double-walled paper. We are on track to meet our commitment and projected to have over 70% of our U.S. system converted to the new cup by the end of 2019. Our eliminations of foam is expected to remove approximately 1 billion foam cups annually from the waste stream.
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2019: Began transition of hot beverage cup lids from polystyrene to #5 polypropylene that can be recycled in cities and towns that offer #5 recycling.
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This transition, along with our move to the double-walled paper cup, will remove 19 million pounds of polystyrene from the waste stream annually.
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In February 2018 we announced our plans to eliminate all polystyrene foam cups in our global supply chain beginning in spring 2018, with a targeted completion date of 2020. In our U.S. restaurants, we will replace the foam cup with a new, double-walled paper cup. The majority of Dunkin’ international markets are currently using paper cups, and we will work with our franchisees to eliminate foam cups from the remaining international markets by the 2020 goal.
Our Sustainable Pulp and Paper Policy, which applies to our U.S. supply chain, details our commitment to ensuring we are sourcing pulp and paper that is traceable, respects Free, Prior and Informed Consent and does not threaten High Conservation Value Forests. We are also committed to including recycled and certified content in our packaging where possible. Currently, over 80% of our U.S. packaging is certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). As of 2018 we only use certified paperboard.
For more information on our policies, please view our Sustainable Pulp and Paper Policy.
Sustainable Building
Our DD Green Achievement™ program, launched in 2014, is designed to help Dunkin’ franchisees build sustainable, energy-efficient restaurants in the U.S. DD Green Achievement restaurants are built with energy-efficient and sustainable elements, including LED lighting to reduce energy use, high-efficiency mechanical units, water reduction features such as low-flow faucets and more. There are now more than 340 DD Green Achievement restaurants around the country and we have set a goal to open 500 by 2020. Dunkin’ Brands also provides a range of tools for franchisees to maintain energy-efficient restaurants. For more information, please visit the DD Green Achievement page.
In 2018, we launched a new store prototype incorporating all elements of DD Green Achievement™ that is at least 25% more energy efficient compared to our previous Fresh Brew design. Our Next Generation concept store is now being utilized for newly initiated Dunkin' U.S. restaurant projects. This new design allows new Dunkin' restaurants in the U.S. to operate more efficiently compared to our previous store design
Guest Feedback
Our guests’ opinions are important to us. We provide our guests with mechanisms to provide feedback on their experiences in our restaurants or with the products on our menu. For more information on reaching our Guest Relations representatives, please click here.
