The consumption of disposable paper cups is always a major problem on the environment as well as operational cost. A new RFID-enabled mug has been developed aiming to reduce waste.

A customer first need to purchase his or her own RFID mug, this mug embedded a high frequency 13.56MHz circular RFID tag with a Mifare chip that can store a unique ID number linked to the customer’s account in the store’s computer system. An RFID reader is mounted to the wall, wired to the store’s POS system. To encourage RFID mug use, the coffee shops plan to offer discounts with the mug purchase.

Source: RFIDJournal, To reduce waste, smug customers use RFID coffee mugs (23 June 2010)