Today, I saw an interesting RT feed on Twitter, Starbucks 100% recyclable? Apparently in 2012, according to "How Starbucks is Changing Packaging" by Sam Oches in QSR magazine. Americans use 58 billion paper cups each year, which is about 645,000 tons of waste in landfills yearly. Starbucks contributes about 3 billion cups total globally each year. Hence, Starbucks is working with recycling and packaging industries to produce a product that lessens their ecological footprint
'“What you’ve seen in the past is somebody will call a product recyclable based
on the materiality of that product and not necessarily whether or not it’s
actually able to get recycled,” says Jim Hanna, director of environmental impact
for Starbucks. “So for our cups, for us to actually call our cups recyclable,
they have to be recyclable in the communities where we operate our stores.
In the past, Starbucks made efforts to switch to 10% post-consumer recycled fiber and to polypropylene cold cups. In preparation of introducing 100% recyclable cups, Starbucks conducted its first Cup Summit in Seattle to meet with " raw material providers, cup manufacturers, cup converters, environmental NGOs, waste management companies, Starbucks’ peer companies, academics, and municipalities." The Cup Summit was a way for the entire value chain of Starbucks products to meet and discuss ideas and concerns.
Currently, New York City, San Francisco, and Ontario are test cities for Starbucks front-of-house recycling methods. Starbucks is working on a plan to certify paper food packaging as corrugated cardboard, hence decreasing recycling costs. Recycling processes began testing with Praat Industries this September in seven Manhattan stores. Ideally, Praat Industries will be able to lead the nation in modification, changing, and enhancing of the recycling infrastructure.
“The cup is our icon, it’s the symbol of Starbucks, it’s our brand image, and we
need to get the cup right,” said Jim Hanna, director of environmental impact for
Starbucks.
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