Tracking Starbucks' 'widely recyclable' cups: none ended up at recycling
Electronic Bluetooth Trackers Placed in Starbucks’ In-Store Recycling Bins Followed the Polypropylene Cups to Landfills and Incinerators
Melissa Valliant, Beyond Plastics — melissavalliant@bennington.edu , (410) 829-0726
Judith Enck, Beyond Plastics — judithenck@bennington.edu , (518) 605-1770
A three-month national investigation by Beyond Plastics found that not a single tracked Starbucks cold-beverage cup ended up at a recycling facility — even when the cups were placed in clearly marked recycling bins inside Starbucks stores. As detailed in the new report , titled “Tracking Starbucks’ Deceptive Recyclability Claims,” the findings directly contradict Starbucks’ recent public claims that its single-use polypropylene (No. 5 plastic) cold cups are “widely recyclable.”
"Starbucks is telling its customers that these plastic cups get recycled, but our trackers tell a different story — they're ending up in landfills and incinerators and not being recycled," said Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics and a former EPA regional administrator . "Accepting a plastic item for recycling is not the same as actually recycling it, and the company knows the difference. It's time for Starbucks to stop making misleading recycling claims and start prioritizing plastic-free, preferably reusable, alternatives for its customers."