Dispensing Comparison

Let’s say three customers each order a small coffee from a local retailer. The first customer prefers 1 ounce of cream; the second customer prefers 3 ounces of milk; and third customer prefers 2 ounces of cream.

R4 System

With the R4 System, the first customer orders her coffee with room for 1, the second customer orders his coffee with room for 3, and the third customer orders his coffee with room for 2. This coffee shop dispenses a total of 18 ounces, conserves 6, and wastes none.

Conventional Dispensing

Without the R4 System, the retailer dispenses a total of 24 ounces of coffee. Customers 1, 2, and 3 each dump 1, 3, and 2 ounces of coffee in the garbage just before they add milk or cream. In this example, the customers waste a total of 6 ounces.

Sure, 6 ounces of coffee waste seems trivial, but an average coffee shop will experience around 2 gallons of waste per day, which adds up to more than 700 gallons of hot coffee per year. When production is taken into consideration, the global impact is ~800,000 gallons of water waste per coffee shop, per year. That’s anything but trivial.