Starbucks goal is to ensure 100 percent of our cups are reusable or recyclable by 2015. Making progress towards this, we’ve conducted a pilot project in New York City to test whether our cups can be recycled into consumer paper products like tissue, paper towels, and toilet paper.
During a nine-week test, which started in mid-September and runs through mid-November, 86 Starbucks locations in New York City have in-store recycling bins for cups, available to customers who don't use a ceramic mug or bring their own tumbler. The cups are collected in a specially-colored plastic bag so that they can be kept separate from other recycling or trash. Each night, the full bags are placed out with the cardboard for transport to a nearby materials recovery facility (MRF) owned by Action Carting. By adding the cups to the existing cardboard pickup, Starbucks cup recycling doesn't require additional truck trips.
The cups have been collected at Action Carting to make bales, which are now going to be shipped to a paper mill for a recycling test to see how they impact the mill’s operations.. If the pilot is successful, it could show that Starbucks paper cups can be recycled more broadly if they do not negatively impact paper mill operations, and convince other paper mills to accept our cups.
To learn more about Starbucks recycling goals visit Starbucks.com.