[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/EW-05-12-14-Starbucks-Cups.mp3|titles=EW 05-12-14 Starbucks Cups]
It seems impossible to walk a city block without encountering a Starbucks. Just as ubiquitous as Starbucks are its disposable coffee cups, billions of which are thrown away every year. Starbucks recently announced it will not meet the recycling goals it set for itself in 2008 – not now, and possibly not ever.
The issue is not so much a lack of corporate interest. It lies in the complexities of the recycling industry. Starbucks cups cannot be processed as paper waste because they have a thin plastic lining to prevent hot drinks from leaking. This lining must be separated from the cups before they can be recycled.
Separation technology exists, but recycling facilities need a massive amount of cups to justify running the process. Only a handful of cities, like Seattle and San Francisco, can economically recycle plastic lined paper cups. Eighty percent of the four billion ‘to go’ cups that Starbucks fills each year are disposed of offsite, in local communities.
Once Starbucks tried to encourage reusable plastic tumblers, but the idea didn’t catch on– by 2011, only 1.9 percent of its beverages were served in the reusable cups.
Four years ago, the company pledged to make its cups 100% recyclable, in both material and practice, by 2015. How it will achieve this goal remains unseen. Some economists think Starbucks would be better off explaining to its largely affluent and eco-conscious customers why cup recycling has been a failure.
This would educate customers in the complexities of recycling – and motivate them to embrace reusable cups.
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Web Links
Why Starbucks won’t recycle your paper coffee cup
Photo, taken February 13, 2009, courtesy of CarnagerSDV via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.