The Beverage Rewards Program by the numbers

You probably already know that Cornell Dining’s Beverage Rewards Program means you can benefit twice each time you purchase a beverage using your clean reusable cup, mug, or tumbler: you get a 15% discount on your purchase, and a punch on your punch card! Collect ten punches to earn a reward drink.

What you may not know is that the discount was redeemed more than twice as many times in Fiscal Year 2025 (July 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2025) than in FY24! There were 11,288 redemptions in FY24, when the discount was 10%, and 24,584 redemptions in FY25, when the discount climbed to 15%.

For the first nearly four months of Fiscal Year 2026, from July 1st through October 22nd, 2025, there were 7,459 redemptions, which is a great start to the year! (Keep in mind students didn’t arrive on campus until a third of the way through that stretch.)

Every time you use your reusable beverage container when purchasing a hot or cold drink, you keep a disposable cup and lid from heading for the landfill, and you save money. That’s a win for the environment and for your wallet!

Cornell Dining’s Sustainability Coordinator Anna Ben-Shlomo thinks we can reach a goal of diverting 36,876 disposable cups and lids from the landfill by the end of this fiscal year, at the end of June 2026. Thanks for your help in proving her right! 

The Beverage Rewards Program is just one of the Sustainability initiatives that Cornell Dining is proud to spearhead on campus, along with our Fill It Forward reusable container program, our composting program in conjunction with Farm Services, food waste studies, and food reclamation efforts in partnership with the Food Recovery Network.

About Cornell Dining

Cornell Dining is consistently ranked in the Princeton Review's top ten for best campus food among all colleges and universities in the country! That high rating comes from customer surveys, and reflects Cornell Dining's commitment to serving high-quality foods that are healthy and creatively prepared with genuine care for a diverse community. Cornell Dining operates over 30 on-campus eateries -- which include residential dining rooms, cafés, coffeehouses, food courts, and convenience stores -- and serves more than 23,000 meals a day to members of the Cornell community. For more information, visit dining.cornell.edu.