Single-use plastic production has skyrocketed in the last several decades because plastic is cheap and convenient, but there are hidden costs to our environment, health, and economy that are hard to ignore.
One especially harmful single-use plastic is plastic foam, formally called expanded polystyrene. It’s the lightweight plastic product that is commonly used to make clamshell takeout containers, coffee cups, and packing materials. Only 1% or less of plastic foam waste is recycled each year in the United States.
As is the case with many single-use plastic items, recycling isn’t the solution. We need to stop the flow of plastic at the source.
Some businesses are already turning the tide on plastic by modeling reuse methods and advocating for policy changes that scale up those solutions.
In an effort to highlight some of the businesses pursuing solutions, Oceana is telling their stories through a blog series: Businesses Breaking Up with Plastic. These companies are tackling the plastic pollution crisis by phasing foam and other single-use plastics out of their operations or building the infrastructure and market for alternatives, proving that solutions not only exist but work.
In this first installation, Oceana sat down with Zsolt Bendel, the co-founder and CEO of CupZero.
CupZero is a reusable cup rental service based in New York City. They provide a full-service solution for events, venues, festivals, nightlife, corporate events, and parks by delivering clean, reusable cups, supporting on-site operations when needed, collecting the cups after use, and handling all commercial washing. They replace single-use disposable cups entirely — no trash, no recycling, no waste.
Tell us about your business. How did you get started?
CupZero was co-founded in 2018 by myself and Michael Cyr, who spent years in commercial waste management and saw firsthand just how little plastic actually gets recycled. That knowledge, combined with what I was witnessing at events – stacks of cups used for minutes and then thrown away — made the case clear. There had to be a better system… so we built one.
Since 2018, CupZero has diverted over 2 million single-use items from landfills across New York City, Miami, Austin, and Los Angeles. We’ve served 400+ clients including music festivals, sporting events, parks programs, nightlife venues, boat cruises, corporate events, trade shows, conferences, and races.
What are the biggest challenges in your industry when it comes to reducing single-use plastic? Have you seen that change over time?
The biggest challenge is inertia. Single-use cups are cheap upfront, familiar, and require zero coordination. Venues and event organizers are often operating on thin margins and tight timelines, so “just use disposables” feels like the path of least resistance. The second challenge is the myth of sanitation — people assume reusables are somehow less hygienic, when the opposite is true. Our cups go through commercial dishwashers that clean far more thoroughly than anything a single-use item could claim.
The good news is that this is shifting. More clients are coming to us proactively, driven by sustainability commitments, city regulations, and attendees who are pushing back on waste.
Why was it important to you to build your business around reducing single-use plastics and providing an alternative?
I wasn’t trying to build a “green business” for its own sake — I was trying to solve a real operational problem. Events generate absurd amounts of preventable waste, and nobody had built a scalable service layer to fix it. The environmental impact is the reason it matters, but the model had to make business sense too. CupZero works because it’s financially sound for our clients — the deposit return system (DRS) we recommend often generates revenue for venues that offsets their rental costs. Sustainability and good economics aren’t in conflict here.
Sustainability and good economics aren’t in conflict here.
– Zsolt Bendel, the co-founder and CEO of CupZero
What has been an unexpected benefit of running a business around waste reduction?
The unexpected benefit has been how much clients appreciate having a partner who handles everything. A lot of sustainability initiatives fail because they ask too much of operators. We do the work — delivery, logistics, washing, collection — so the venue just has to say yes. That turnkey model turns out to be the key unlock.
Last year, you took action with Oceana to promote the federal Farewell to Foam Act. What prompted you to support that legislation?
Foam is one of the clearest examples of a material that has no business existing in a modern supply chain. It doesn’t recycle in practice, it breaks into microplastics, it persists in the environment, and there are perfectly good alternatives. The Farewell to Foam Act is common-sense policy. Supporting it felt obvious.
Individual businesses acting alone can only do so much. Policy change creates systemic shifts — it changes what’s available, what’s normal, and what the baseline expectation is.
Do you have a ban on polystyrene foam in your town or state? How does it impact your business?
New York City has had a polystyrene foam ban in place since 2019, covering food service businesses. It’s had a real effect on what we see at events — foam cups have essentially disappeared from our client base. It demonstrates what’s possible when policy gives the market a clear signal.
How would a national ban on polystyrene foam impact your business?
A national foam ban would be a tide that raises all boats. It removes one more cheap single-use option from the table, which accelerates the shift toward reusables. It also levels the playing field nationally — right now, clients in cities without bans sometimes push back because they can still access foam products cheaply. A federal ban ends that conversation.
What does being part of the solution mean to your clients?
For most of our clients, it means being able to make a genuine sustainability claim rather than a performative one. And for their attendees, it means being able to enjoy the event without the nagging guilt of knowing every drink they order adds another cup to a landfill. Offering a real reusable program builds credibility — with their audience and with themselves.
What does being part of the solution mean to the community where your business is located?
New York City is surrounded by water — the Hudson River, the East River, the New York Harbor, the Long Island Sound — our waterways are part of the city’s identity. They’re also downstream from every overflowing trash can, every street festival, every outdoor concert where thousands of cups end up on the ground or in storm drains. New York City generates enormous event-related waste. We work directly with parks and outdoor venues across the city, including programs along the waterfront, so the link between what we do and ocean health is pretty direct. Every cup that goes back through our system is one that doesn’t end up in a storm drain or on a shoreline.
At the neighborhood level, our partnership with Sure We Can — a nonprofit recycling center in Brooklyn — connects us with canners and informal recyclers who’ve been doing environmental recovery work for years without recognition or economic stability. By integrating them into our operations, we’re creating real economic opportunity for people who are too often left out of the “green economy” conversation. Sustainability that doesn’t include the people most affected by environmental harm is incomplete.
What advice would you give to other businesses?
Start with the economics, not the mission. Find the model where sustainability is financially neutral or positive for your client — then the environmental benefit becomes a bonus they’re happy to take. If you ask businesses to sacrifice margin for principle, most won’t. If you show them they can do the right thing and come out ahead, the conversation gets a lot easier.
It’s Time to Say ‘Farewell to Foam’
Oceana and its allies are pleased to support the federal Farewell to Foam Act, which would phase out the sale and distribution of polystyrene foam foodware, disposable coolers, and loose-fill packaging (packing peanuts) nationwide. Many states across the country have begun to phase out this material, and science shows that these policies protect the environment from plastic foam pollution. Now, we need Congress to take action to protect all our country’s environments and communities.
Tell your Representative to say ‘Farewell to Foam’.
If you’re a business owner interested in advocating for change, join Oceana’s National Business Coalition for the Oceans today.
You can learn more about CupZero on their website cupzero.com or by following on Instagram @cupzero_hero. They are actively expanding partnerships across New York City and beyond.
