SAN ANTONIO — Order a meal at Whataburger, and it'll come with a drink in a massive orange and white cup. Many folks say it's "iconic" - but a group of environmentalists call it something else.
"Trash," said local artist Carye Bye. "Bad trash."
Bye is sick of seeing litter in her neighborhood parks and waterways. Now, she's asking those responsible to take some action.
"Have you walked anywhere without seeing a Styrofoam cup lately?" she asked. "No. It's everywhere...we're looking for some leadership in environmental awareness."
Bye admits "it's no easy decision" for a company to revamp the way they serve their products. However, that's not stopping her from asking Whataburger to change the way they serve their drinks. Bye spent part of her afternoon at Whataburger's San Antonio headquarters with homemade signs, along with some other environmentalists who shared the same sentiments.
"We're here to deliver a petition signed by more than 53,000 people asking Whataburger to stop the use of their iconic polystyrene foam cups, or what is more commonly known as Styrofoam cups," said Luke Metzger of Environment Texas. Those signatures have come from folks in the ten states with Whataburger stores.
Metzger says these non-biodegradable cups are an eyesore that harm the environment.
"Wildlife can mistake them for food and it can get stuck in their digestive tract, and it can make wildlife starve," he said.
Metzger said people will feel the impact of Styrofoam litter too, in a different way.
"Texas and other major cities spend tens of millions of dollars a year picking up litter, including these Styrofoam cups," he said.
The group wants Whataburger to follow fast-food chains like McDonalds to switch from Styrofoam to something more friendly to the environment, like bamboo cups or paper cups. They also say offering an incentive to using reusable cups over a disposable cup could be a good fix.
"They can offer discounts to customers who bring in their own cups," Metzger said. "Ten cents, twenty cents off a drink - that's proven to work in getting people to use reusable."
In an email, Whataburger Corporate Communications acknowledged the protests:
At Whataburger, we’re always looking for the best way to serve our customers and we value their feedback. We continue to look at cup alternatives that keep drinks at the right temperature but we have a lot to consider from a quality and supply perspective when meeting our customers’ expectations. We will share any updates if we have news to share. In the meantime, we continue to urge customers to properly dispose of our cups.
Whataburger has agreed to meet with the group in December to talk about possible changes to the product packaging.