The Stanley Tumbler, this yr’s smash hit, is, at first look, a win for the planet.
It’s sturdy. It’s reusable. Not like the throwaway plastic bottles it’s meant to exchange, it doesn’t generate mountains of plastic trash.
However the craze has sparked some less-than-sustainable habits. Folks boast about owning dozens of them. When Goal launched particular editions, together with a much-coveted Starbucks model, it brought about a mini stampede.
Some pattern forecasters say the fad is already over. “Some millennials or Gen-Z are already embarrassed to hold a Stanley,” mentioned Casey Lewis, who writes the trendspotting newsletter, After School. “And we all know what’s going to occur,” she mentioned. They’ll sit unused, collect mud on a shelf or in a basement, or “worst case situation, they’ll find yourself in landfills.”
Stanley mania is a narrative of how advertising, influencers and the ability of social media converged to supply a cultural phenomenon. Stanley bought an estimated 10 million Quencher” water tumblers in 2023, andthe firm’s whole gross sales for that yr is predicted to have reached $750 million, up from lower than $100 million in 2020. The #StanleyCup hashtag has been considered billions of occasions on TikTok.
However the pattern can also be an instance of how a rising universe of eco-conscious merchandise — issues initially marketed to be sustainable — can morph right into a catalyst for merely shopping for extra, probably canceling out environmental advantages. Entranceways have change into cluttered with totes meant to save us from the scourge of single-use plastic bags. Cabinets are accumulating odd devices, like collapsible metal straws or reusable meals containers, meant to chop down on the single-use type.
“The purpose of a reusable mug is that, theoretically, you solely want one. And also you’re changing dozens and even lots of of single-use cups with that one reusable mug,” mentioned Sandra Goldmark of Columbia College’s Local weather Faculty. But when an individual buys a lot of these mugs, “you’ve bought loads of water-drinking to do,” she mentioned, to make up for the environmental influence of producing them.
There’s proof that sustainability sells. A study last year by McKinsey that examined 5 years of gross sales knowledge throughout 44,000 manufacturers, discovered a transparent correlation between client spending and sustainability-related advertising.
That examine didn’t particularly embody Stanley tumblers. And for many merchandise, switching to a extra sustainable various wouldn’t essentially imply extra consumption. You may not eat extra greens simply because they have been grown sustainably, for instance.
And most Stanley mug homeowners in all probability don’t have museum-scale collections, or much more than only one or two. Even when they do, the local weather toll could be far decrease than, say, driving a fuel thirsty S.U.V. or flying round in jets.
Researchers have coined a time period to measure the period of time an individual should re-use an alternate earlier than it absolutely offsets the single-use product it replaces: the environmental payback interval. A 2020 paper discovered that for straws, espresso cups, and forks, steel options had for use the longest — anyplace from a number of months to a couple years — so as to break even.
A number of issues play into that lengthy playback interval. For one factor, making chrome steel is a polluting and energy-intensive course of that to normally depends on coal, a unclean fossil gasoline.
Stanley advertises that its merchandise final a lifetime. (That they’re constructed to final was confirmed in spectacular trend when a preferred social media put up confirmed a pitcher that had survived a car fire, the ice inside it nonetheless unmelted.) However more moderen advertising has emphasised limited-edition drops and a stunning array of colours.
Stanley mentioned it’s making an effort to fabricate its merchandise from extra sustainable supplies. The mug’s producer, PMI, which additionally owns the Aladdin model, says Quencher tumblers are made with 90 p.c recycled metal.
However throughout all Stanley merchandise, solely 23 p.c are fabricated from recycled metal, according to the company. It goals to lift that to at least 50 percent by 2025.
Philippe Pernstich of Minimal, a carbon accounting software program platform mentioned that might be difficult. For one, there’s a scarcity of recycled metal as a result of it’s in such excessive demand. Making metal from uncooked supplies is far costlier and vitality intensive, and emits planet-warming pollution.
Some tumbler manufacturers supply trade-in or recycling applications. Firms may lean into that, Columbia’s Prof. Goldmark mentioned. “What in the event that they provided a restore or refurbish service. What in the event you may get your present cup bedazzled?” she mentioned. “There’s every kind of enjoyable methods to let folks have enjoyable along with your product” moderately than “making increasingly more.”
All informed, there’s little question {that a} tradition shift to reusable bottles is sweet for the planet. Single-use plastic water bottles include their very own carbon footprint, launch microplastics, and are rarely recycled: the recycling price for plastics in the US has been stuck below 10 percent for decades.
“I believe the good factor about this ‘it’ water bottle pattern, as foolish as it might be, is it does make reusable bottles cool,” mentioned Ms. Lewis, the pattern knowledgeable. “It makes folks need to by no means depart dwelling with out one.”
There’s already a brand new “it” bottle on the horizon: the Owala. Owala bottles are already throughout school campuses, Ms. Lewis mentioned. Their attraction: “While you’re ingesting it, whenever you tip it again, you seem like a cute little panda bear.”