The search for a new plastic cup.
The environmental impact of our plastic cups and other packaging is definitely something we’re concerned about. Starbucks sells more than one billion cold beverages every year, so any improvement we can make in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions caused from producing our cups has a big impact.
Our cold cups have traditionally been made from the industry-standard polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) plastic – identified by the No. 1 symbol on the bottom of the cup. Although it’s the same PET used for most beverage bottles, the different manufacturing processes between cups and bottles makes PET cups difficult to recycle in most communities. Unfortunately, this means most recyclers won’t accept any PET cups for recycling, as they have little value in the commercial recycling market.
What we’ve been doing.
In 2008, we asked an outside group of external lifecycle scientists to produce a peer-reviewed study evaluating the entire environmental impact lifecycle of our cups – from extracting the raw materials, converting the plastic resins into cups, transporting them, using them and finally disposing of them. They discovered that polypropylene (PP) cups use 15 percent less plastic than PET cups and emit 45 percent less greenhouse gasses during their production. Unlike PET cups, PP cups (identified with the No. 5 symbol) can also be co-mingled with other PP containers, such as margarine tubs and yogurt containers without impacting their ability to be recycled.
This information encouraged us to switch our plastic cups. In 2008, Starbucks began the changeover to polypropylene (PP) cups with the launch of our new plastic cups for Vivanno™ nourishing blends. We are now transitioning our standard plastic cups, straws, lids and cutlery to the new PP, reducing the number of different plastic types coming out of our stores.
Hurdles.
The reduced impact of switching to PP cups is a good step, but we recognize that they are still a petroleum-based product. We also explored using the polylactide (PLA) plastic resin, an alternative material made from corn, for our new cold cups as part of our lifecycle impact assessment. Although PLA cups are accepted for composting in more commercial facilities than plastic-lined cups, we are not rolling out the cup broadly because it produces a slightly higher carbon footprint than its PP counterpart in the manufacturing process.
Additionally, studies by organizations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Oxfam have indicated that they believe the diversion of food corn to non-food applications (such as fuel and bioplastics) has been a primary factor behind the recent spikes in global food prices. We believe that weighing these lifecycle impacts and benefits of compostability versus the costs of carbon footprint and impact on the global food supply are all important factors in deciding which materials we choose for our cups.
What we’re working on.
Our goal is that by 2015, 100 percent of our cups will be reusable or recyclable. To help achieve this goal, we have made the following commitments:
- Developing and launching a recyclable cup by 2012
- Having recycling available in our stores
- Reestablishing ceramic mugs as our global standard for our customers who enjoy their beverages in our stores
- Converting all of our plastic cups to polypropylene in our stores in North America and Latin America, and Foodservice accounts by 2009
