Bring your own mug in Canada: what the discount is actually worth
Verified August 6, 2026Updated September 2, 2026CAD, before taxGuide
Tim Hortons takes 10 cents off any hot or cold beverage when you hand over a clean reusable cup. Starbucks does the same, and adds bonus Stars for loyalty members.
Ten cents is not nothing, and it is also not the hundreds of dollars a year some write-ups suggest. On a $1.83 medium coffee it is a 5.5% discount. Bought every working morning for a year, it comes to $25.00, which pays back a $20 travel mug in 200 mornings and then starts earning.
If you want the environmental case, it is strong and it does not need exaggerating. If you want the financial case, here it is honestly, including the part where the municipal cup fees you may have read about have largely been repealed.
What the discount is worth, by size
The discount is a flat ten cents, so it is worth most as a percentage on the cheapest drink — the opposite of how most people order.
| Tim Hortons drink | Price | With your own cup | Discount as a % | Over 250 mornings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small coffee | $1.59 | $1.49 | 6.3% | $25.00 |
| Medium coffee | $1.83 | $1.73 | 5.5% | $25.00 |
| Large coffee | $2.07 | $1.97 | 4.8% | $25.00 |
| Extra large coffee | $2.35 | $2.25 | 4.3% | $25.00 |
| Medium latte | $3.69 | $3.59 | 2.7% | $25.00 |
| Medium Iced Capp | $4.29 | $4.19 | 2.3% | $25.00 |
The right-hand column is the same in every row, which is the point: the saving is fixed in dollars, so the more expensive your drink, the less the mug matters to your bill.
For comparison, switching from a small to an extra large changes your cost per 100 ml from 53.7 cents to 33.1, a 62% swing on the same product. The cup you bring saves ten cents; the cup they pour into decides everything else. The cost per millilitre guide works through that.
The rules that actually get your cup filled
Tim Hortons accepts personal cups at the counter and in the drive-thru, and the operational rules are specific enough to be worth knowing before you are at the window.
- The cup has to be clean. Staff will not rinse it, and they are not permitted to wash customer containers in restaurant sinks. Bring it clean from home.
- Damaged cups get refused. Cracked or visibly damaged vessels will not be filled, for the obvious reason.
- Drive-thru orders need a lid. If you are ordering from your car, your cup has to have its lid with it so it can be passed back safely.
- Cold drinks count. This is the part people miss. The 10 cents applies to iced coffee, cold brew, iced lattes, Iced Capps, Quenchers, lemonade, smoothies and Creamy Chills as well as to hot drinks.
Starbucks accepts personal cups at the counter, in the drive-thru and on mobile order-ahead, with the same 10-cent discount, and awards bonus Stars to Rewards members who use one. That Star bonus has been adjusted more than once recently, so check the current amount in the app rather than relying on a figure from an article — including this one.
The municipal cup fees that mostly aren't there
Several guides tell you that bringing a mug also dodges a mandatory city cup charge. That was true in one Canadian city and is no longer true anywhere I can verify.
Vancouver repealed its 25-cent single-use cup fee effective May 1, 2023. Council enacted the repeal in March of that year, removing both the mandatory charge and the requirement that businesses accept clean reusable cups. Businesses are still encouraged to accept them and to offer a discount, but neither is required.
Edmonton does not charge a cup fee at all. Its Single-Use Item Reduction Bylaw sets minimum fees for shopping bags — 25 cents for a paper bag and $2 for a new reusable one — not for beverage cups. What the bylaw does require is that restaurants serve dine-in drinks in reusable cups and keep a written policy for accepting customer cups. Drive-thrus are encouraged to accept reusable cups but are explicitly not required to, and may refuse where it would be unsafe or unsanitary.
So the honest version is: the 10 cents from the chain is the discount. There is no stacked municipal saving on top of it in either of the cities usually named, and any calculation showing 25 cents a cup is adding a fee that has been repealed to one that never applied to cups.
The annual arithmetic, without the padding
| Scenario | Daily saving | 250 working mornings | Cups kept out of the bin |
|---|---|---|---|
| One drink a day with your own mug | $0.10 | $25.00 | 250 cups and lids |
| Two drinks a day | $0.20 | $50.00 | 500 cups and lids |
| A $20 travel mug, paid back | — | after 200 mornings | — |
A single-drink habit takes most of a working year to pay off a $20 mug. Two drinks a day halves that. Either way, this is a habit that pays for itself slowly and then keeps paying, and the disposable cup it replaces is the more compelling number: paper coffee cups are lined with a thin plastic film that makes them difficult to separate for recycling, so in most Canadian municipalities they are landfill.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Tim Hortons take off for a reusable cup?
Ten cents, on any hot or cold beverage, in Canada. On a $1.83 medium coffee that is a 5.5% discount, and about $25.00 over 250 working mornings.
Can I use my own cup in the drive-thru?
At Tim Hortons yes, provided the cup has its lid so it can be handed back safely, and provided it is clean and undamaged. Starbucks also accepts personal cups in the drive-thru and on mobile orders. Elsewhere it depends on the chain and the location, and in Edmonton drive-thrus are specifically permitted to decline.
Can I get a cold drink in my own cup?
Yes at Tim Hortons, and this is the underused half of the policy. Iced coffee, cold brew, iced lattes, Iced Capps, Quenchers, lemonade, smoothies and Creamy Chills all qualify for the same ten cents.
Will staff wash my mug?
No. Employees are not permitted to wash, rinse or sanitize customer containers in restaurant prep sinks, and a visibly unclean or damaged cup will be refused. Bring it clean.
Does Vancouver still charge 25 cents for a disposable cup?
No. The fee was repealed effective May 1, 2023, along with the rule requiring businesses to accept clean reusable cups. Some independent shops kept a charge or a discount voluntarily, but there is no city-mandated cup fee.
Does Edmonton charge a fee for disposable cups?
No. Edmonton's single-use bylaw sets minimum fees for shopping bags, not cups. It does require restaurants to serve dine-in drinks in reusable cups and to have a written policy on accepting customer cups, and it encourages but does not require drive-thrus to accept them.
Are disposable coffee cups recyclable in Canada?
In most municipalities, no. The polyethylene lining that stops the cup leaking also makes the paper hard to separate, so the majority go to landfill. Check your own municipality, since a few do accept them in specific streams.
Methodology and disclaimer
Beverage prices come from the verified Tim Hortons menu file behind this site's Tim Hortons page, recorded August 2026. The 10-cent discount and the cup condition, lid and drive-thru rules reflect Tim Hortons' published policy. Starbucks details reflect the chain's published personal-cup policy; the Star bonus has changed more than once and should be checked in the app. Municipal rules reflect the City of Vancouver's repeal of its single-use cup by-law effective May 1, 2023, and the City of Edmonton's published Single-Use Item Reduction Bylaw. No discount figures are published here for chains where none has been verified. Prices exclude sales tax.
Froqel is an independent price guide. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any restaurant chain or municipality named here. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.