Five years back, Starbucks had set a goal of making 100 percent of its cups reusable or recyclable by 2015, which is a one billion paper cups a year and another billion for plastic. [2] In order to prove the theory, Starbucks completed a six-week pilot program in which it collected three bales (or 6,000 pounds) of used cups from 170 Starbucks and other retail stores in the greater Toronto area and sent them for recycling at the Mississippi River Pulp mill, the only mill in the United States that produced recycled paper fiber of high enough quality that it can be reused in products for eating and drinking. [3]

Starbucks management team then strategically planned to reduce its contribution to the growing waste by the means of innovative packaging materials and smart marketing strategies: planned to increasingly replace paper by recyclable plastics, offer personalized cups for repeated use and discounted prices for guests who bring their own coffee mugs. [5] However, in 2011, the company achieved a mere 1.89 percent of its goal, leading the company to adjust the 2015 goal to 5 percent. [6] And in 2012, the company drastically reduced the goal of serving 25 percent of beverages in reusable cups by 2015. [6]

In January 2013, in an effort to increase customer adoption of reusable cups, Starbucks introduced a new low-cost reusable cups. The plastic cups were roughly the same size, looked as the company’s paper cups, and at a cost of a dollar. Starbucks granted a 10 cents discount every time when the customers using the cups that the cost recouped after 10 uses. The company as well pursued other ways to reduce the impact of its disposable cups, including increased availability of in-store recycling, redesigning cup sleeves with less material, and the development of cup-to-cup recycling. [6]

Overall, composting keeps the cups out of landfills, but it generated greenhouse gases while destroying the recycling the value packed into the cup’s fibers. Reusable cups seemed to be a nice idea, but after all it was one that consumers simply don’t embrace. In fact, after Starbucks green initiatives, strives to  bring the company green, the best outcome may be the discussion that Starbucks inadvertently began when it gave up on the possibility of recycling in all of its stores: “Recycling seems like a simple, straightforward initiative, but it’s actually quite challenging.” [1] If consumers were to truly understand how the company came with that humble insight, consumers might stop buying and throwing away so many paper cups in the first place. [4]

References:

[1] https://greenlivingvirginia.wordpress.com/2014/10/28/are-starbucks-cups-recycled-the-short-answer-is-no/

[2] http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/what-next-after-tossing-a-starbucks-cup/?ref=science&_r=0

[3] http://inhabitat.com/all-starbucks-cups-will-be-recyclable-or-reusable-by-2015/

[4] http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-04-07/why-starbucks-won-t-recycle-your-cup

[5] http://www.interpack.com/cipp/md_interpack/lib/pub/tt,oid,20860/lang,2/ticket,g_u_e_s_t/~/Paper_Cups_by_Starbucks_more_sustainable_than_ceramic_cups.html

[6] http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/articles/starbucks-introduces-reusable-coffee-cup