Coffee is one of Canada’s most loved beverages, yet it is also one of the most wasteful. Every day, millions of Canadians dump disposable coffee cups in the trash or recycle bin, even though many of these items cannot be recycled. 

Tim Horton's "Roll Up The Rim" campaign further aggravates this problem by promoting waste, not coffee, in a contest that consumers roll up the rim of a single use coffee cup for a chance to win one of over 43 million prizes. 

During the marketing promotion of “Roll Up the Rim to Win” from Feb, 6 2019 to April 17 2019 or until there are “no more cups” approximately 300 million single use coffee cups will be distributed to over 4,748 franchised outlets in communities including Northern Pond (Nunavut), The Pas (Manitoba), and Spaniards Bay (Newfoundland). 

Despite significant reporting regarding the environmental angst these plastic-lined paper cups cause and the shift to an increase in reusable drink-ware, “Roll Up the Rim to Win” continues to ignore its ecological impact. Boosting sales by creating contest cups is promoted far more heavily than the shift to reusable ever has been, in fact part of the marketing strategy of the “Roll Up the Rim” campaign encourages consumers to post pictures of the single use coffee cups on social media.

Tim Hortons has issued statements that the company is working on more sustainable packaging but as the company that sells 8 out of 10 cups of coffee in Canada, franchised outlets continue to flood the country with an unsustainable coffee cup. Changing materials in a cup that may be used once for 12 minutes does not address resource conservation.

As the sixth most influential brand in Canada, Tim Hortons can do more as a change-leader to create positive impacts.  Actively promoting the use of single use coffee cups with a massively promoted contest perpetuates the waste problem. While sponsoring community clean-ups aids volunteers cleaning up litter; it does not release Tim Hortons from the social responsibility of preventing waste.

Tim Hortons needs to rethink and redesign future “Roll Up the Rim” promotions to stop promoting the consumption of single use cups. As an iconic Canadian brand it is time to promote the coffee not the branded waste. 

RBI, the company that owns Tim Horton's states on its website that "Reducing waste throughout our operations continues to be a key area of focus, for both our corporate facilities and across our restaurants." Let's all remind RBI of this focus and encourage Tim Horton's to promote coffee, not waste.