Most people are used to drop their empty paper coffee cups into blue bins, but do those coffee cups actually go through the recycling process? The answer is “NO”. A CBC Marketplace investigation reveals the two of Canada’s largest coffee chains –Starbucks and Tim Hortons sent their used paper coffee cups to landfill instead of a recycling plant.
The reason behind this issue is the truth that the cups are difficult to recycle. Mark Badger, an executive at Canada Fibers indicates that “There is an extra cost of processing most types of hot drink coffee cups, teacups, because they’re a combination of paper and plastic” and therefore most of recycle facilities do not accept paper coffee cups. However, I don’t think this can be an excuse of not sending coffee cups to recycle process because the benefits of going through the recycling process outweigh its cost. And if Starbucks and Tim Hortons can take their social responsibility by recycling coffee cups, it will avoid a big waste of raw materials for producing coffee cups. For example, by providing ceramic mugs for customers who don’t need to take-out cup. This action can decrease the consumption of coffee cups and therefore reduce the material cost for producing coffee cups.
This news addresses me to the content what I learnt at COMM101 class about ethics and sustainability. It is important for companies to implement sustainable measures because it is a long-term process which can improve the overall productivity of the whole company by avoiding waste as well as promoting innovations. In other words, sustainability brings both economic and societal benefits to the company. For example, a sustainable business can be more attractive for ethical investors and therefore become more profitable. And a business with sustainability is more competitive in the markets.
resources:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-tim-hortons-starbucks-coffee-cups-recycling-1.3278648
I totally agree with you. This seems like a scam to the public since these companies claim that they will recycle those stuff, but actually they do not. Environmental sustainability is the main issue that the whole world are concerned. As a company who provides good and services to consumers and has a big influence in society should set a good example to people instead of cheating.
Tim Horton and Starbucks should take social responsibility by avoiding waste and reducing wages. As you already mentioned that they can apply porcelain mugs to customers who don’t need to take-out cup, they can also make their cups more environmentally friendly, that means these companies can use more “green” materials to make those cups easier to be disposed. What’s more, some environmental institutions and organizations should have the heavy supervision towards these companies. With those companies’ awareness and social supervision, I believe the situation will be better.