Starbucks Coffee

Green Living!!

www.k103.com/.../gogreen

What I fail to understand is how companies like Starbucks get away with violating local recycling ordinances?  Pittsburgh has the ability to recycle just about everything, but most coffee houses that are corporate only collect glass & aluminum, if that.  The independent owners are more flexible which is ironic since they have less resources (but less bureacracy I guess).  I get frustrated having to carry home items to recycle.  I also get frustrated that I as a private citizen HAVE to comply with recycling laws or have fines imposed.  

PLEASE - PLEASE - PLEASE....

My local store is still tossing out milk jugs... UGH!!

My observation:  Starbucks is promoting Green Living and Recycle Coffee Grinds... Wonderful!!  However, they are still tossing out Milk jugs?!  Barista stated,"We don't have the proper disposal for recycling them, but we recycle everything else!"  

My opinion: If the milk jugs were recycled, daily trash will be cut down drastically!!  Isn't there a way to have a big enough container for them to recycle or couldn't the employees/store manager recycle them with their own recyclables. (sp)

In my county, in Maryland, we are able to recycle everything together including the milk tops!!

Thanks for listening!!

Look into what they are doing at World Centric. (http://worldcentric.org/)

I love hearing this updates! Yeah!  Thank you Sue!

@PghLesbian - Most cities, even that do have wide-spread recycle programs, will not consider the Starbucks cup recyclable. This is because it has a thin polyethelne layer in it, creating the strength of the cup.  So your city may have recycling, yet still not able to take a Starbucks cup. Even here in Seattle, you can recycle a Starbucks cup in Seattle, but travel only a few miles to surrounding large cities and find that the cup is not recyclable.  And the best option is still bring in your own tumbler.

I purchase Starbucks Mocha drinks in glass bottles at the local supermarket chain and live in an area where recycling isn't easy or encouraged. Have you conidered haing a drop-off at the Starbucks stores for recycling that type of glass bottling and the screw-on lids?

Columbus, OH offers a lot of recycling options.  The problem is that we agree to leases without mandating that landlords provide recycling.  We need to start negotiating leases with recycling mandates.  

I have an idea:

I have LOTS of Starbucks cups in my car... LOTS from me, friends, you know.

I threw some out.

But if I "go green", can I also "save green" and perhaps get a discount if I bring empty cups and holders in for you to recycle?  :)

Are your cups recyclable or not?  I have heard that there is a coating of plastic inside that makes them incompatible with paper recycling.  What materials are used in the cups, and when and where can they be recycled?

These are positive steps, and I'm happy to hear about them. Thanks for keeping us up to date.

What I'd still like to know is: why does Starbucks not have options to use a normal coffee mug when you stay in store? That option alone would stop a lot of waste.

(PS, This is Caleb from the Save the Cups team. Check it out:

http://savethecups.com/ )

I work in a starbucks licensed store, in MI where we can recycle almost anything. We have no way to recycle the (roughly) 6 or so milk jugs we throw out each day. The store has a baler so all our cardboard is recycled, but I am the kind of person who has more recycle than trash in front of my house and drives a prius. This is something I always cringe at doing. Poor earth, plastic doesnt biodegrade. Please help us fix this.

@tlowinge - That is NOT a yes/no question.  Some things may be recyclable in one city but not another. For example, this same issue comes up often with #5 plastics, which many cities do not take as recyclable, but yet some do. We have the same issue here with the Starbucks cup. Some cities consider them recyclable but many do not.

But without a doubt, you will be kinder to the environment if you bring in your own tumbler. "Reduce" is the first "R" before recycle. It take less consumption/energy to rinse out a tumbler or mug  with a little water than to sort recycling, transport it to a recycle station, convert it to something new, re-transport it for redistrubution...

Just a little more on the Starbucks paper cup:

http://bit.ly/24S428

I've e-mailed Starbucks about this in the past, but never got a response. On one particularly egregious occasion, my receipt was promoting a Starbucks website for "going green" tips. I finished my iced latte and asked where I could recycle the plastic cup. The barista told me that they didn't have the means for it.

The best "go green" tip is RECYCLING. It's so counter-intuitive for Starbucks to not have this set up enterprise-wide, when it's trying to push such a progressive image.

PS: My town - the one where this happened - has mixed recycling and can take almost anything, so it's not a town-based issue.

there should DEFINITELY be discounts for those of us who bring in our own reusable cups - GOOD discounts.... a couple of cents isn't enough to pursued others to invest in & carry around reusable cups.

@klctwins

I am in Maryland also. I visit 3 different starbucks in 2 counties during the work week. All 3 do not recycle their milk jugs. It makes me furious! I have had the same blase response. Thanks for bringing this up. I hope that something can be done. I fear that what Starbucks has been able to recycle has been countered by what they have not.

I also live in Maryland.  There is absolutely no reason for the stores I frequent to have overflowing trash bins, recycling bins filled with trash, and so little actually being recycled.  My county recycles everything, so should the Starbucks.

@ Sue Long -- too bad the "recycle extremists" will not take the time to read this, or any other post about what Starbucks is doing regarding recycling.

"They" do not want to hear what a challenge recycling is and they are unwilling to work in a productive and nonconfrontational way with City and State entities to improve the availability of comprehensive recycling facilities.

Thanks for an informative post.

I am a partner at Starbucks in Vancouver and what I would love to see Starbucks start to focus on is reducing their waste production.  I find it mind-boggling that the "recycled" tumblers are shipped wrapped in plastic, contained in a box, contained in yet another box.  This seems like a horrible waste of resources and more than a little oxymoronic.  The new recycled mugs that were released with the Winter 2 promotion are, again, shipped in multiple layers of wrapping and cardboard.  We're often sent CDs and other shipments in large cardboard boxes when they could be condensed into smaller shipping packaging or with other shipments.  These wasteful practices would be relatively easy to cut back on and would make a huge impact on the overall waste production of Starbucks.

I also work for a large company and understand that moving a big ship that is in many locations is not easy. Keep pushing ahead - the less informed and inflexible will always gripe in the short term. You are right to focus on the cup - the icon of the brand in my eyes short of the logo. Thanks for the informative update!  

Barriers?

I was wondering what barriers really exist for a multi-billion dollar corporation? With respect to recycling, the only barrier that stands in your way is the fact that you buy cups that are made with a plastic liner...a great way to knock down this barrier would be to STOP purchasing cups which have a plastic liner!!!!  I'm not sure why you need until 2012 to solve this not-so-difficult conundrum, and why you need an entire committee figure it out.. As for "landlords" not supplying recycling facilities, then yes, it would be ideal if you could convince these people to hop on the recycling bandwagon, but is there no way to implement your own recycling program?(pick up/drop off at recycling facility). This way, it's in your hands. This is change (for an extra cost of course, plus carbon print w.r.t. CO2 emmisions), but how much space will you be saving at the landfill? Furthermore, there are option out there for  cups. Not only can you buy fully recyclable (AND 100% POST CONSUMER, instead of 10%) cups, but there are also 100% compostable cornstarch based cups, to-go containers and even cutlery!

Instead of  meeting with NGO, and academic advisers, I can give you a number for the coffee shop down the street.

Here are some steps they've taken with out the aid of any experts. You may want to write them down.

     1. Introduced extensive recycling and composting systems to reduce our landfill waste by 95%

  2. Purchase recycled plastic containers for our waste management system

  3. The "------" offers 100% compostable cornstarch-derived cups for hot to-go drinks

  4. Encourage customers to bring their own mug by charging a small size price

  5. We offer refillable tins for our bulk tea

  6. We have “paper towel” bins in the bathrooms, so we can compost over 80% of paper towel

  7. We have drastically reduced food and milk waste by tightening up on orders and measurements

Just a few to get you started...it's not hard...really it's not. If this little guy can do it,  surely you can too!