Students might have noticed different Pepsi cups available in the dining halls, however Dining Services officials said this change is temporary.
Due to stocking challenges, Dining Services is temporarily using regular Pepsi cups instead of the certified compostable cups implemented in the dining halls last year.
“Since the new cups are not currently available from Pepsi, we had to backfill cups with the old product,” Allison Lilly, sustainability and wellness coordinator for Dining Services, wrote in an email.
PepsiCo Inc. introduced the compostable cups in 2011 in response to college students’ growing demand for sustainable packaging, according to a company news release. These compostable cups offered in the dining halls are made from paper and wax with materials sourced from sustainably managed forests.
“They’ve got the sales figures,” said Bart Hipple, a Dining Services spokesman. “They have provided them for us for 15 years, they know this stuff, but they ran short. And in running short, we had to use what they have.”
Lilly said Pepsi is aware of the issue and should be updating Dining Services soon about the product.
“They have assured us that as soon as they have more, they will get them to us, so hopefully that will be very quickly,” Hipple said.
