by Abby Wester ’23
In September 2019, Annie Williams ’23 went to LimeRed Cafe in Northampton, Massachusetts to enjoy bubble tea after attending a climate strike. As Williams typically does, she asked the barista to use her mason jar, a reusable receptacle, to make her drink. However, the barista refused to use her reusable cup. The interaction left Williams confused, as she has used her reusable mason jar at other bubble tea cafes in the Pioneer Valley and greater Massachusetts. This refusal was not isolated, as LimeRed baristas at the Amherst location also refused to make a drink in her mason jar on two later dates.
Williams says that her passion for zero-waste living came about two years ago, after attending a program in Indonesia that focused on conservation.
“Going to Indonesia definitely shaped my worldview,” Williams said. It made her realize “how much excess we have in America and the stuff we take for granted.”
While briefly working at Gong Cha in March 2019, a U.S. based bubble tea franchise in Burlington, Massachusetts, Williams became interested in the zero-waste bubble tea market.
“It was just insane to me how much plastic went into one drink and then it was just thrown away,” she said. These plastics are non biodegradable meaning they are either ending up in landfills or the environment, ultimately harming ecosystems and creating more waste. After witnessing the plastic waste at her job, she invested in a mason jar and an extra-wide reusable straw to enjoy her beverages.
Williams said that her mason jar has been accepted at other bubble tea cafes, including Gong Cha and Vivi’s, a popular cafe in Amherst, so when she was refused at LimeRed in Northampton and Amherst, she was both surprised and disappointed. However, it was not a coincidence that neither location accepted her receptacle. A LimeRed Northampton employee said that it is company policy to use only their own containers.
After her frustration with LimeRed’s refusal to use her mason jar, Williams said she began spreading the word. She reached out to environmental groups and resources on campus, including Students for Zero Waste and the Miller Worley Center for the Environment.
“Being a very open and very action oriented community, I feel like if we get the word out, then I think a lot of Mount Holyoke students could be swayed not to go to LimeRed,” Williams said. “If we can rally at least the Mount Holyoke students ... there's a way for us to collectively boycott and/or talk to more management about why [they] have this policy in place.”