A Starbucks cup is not recyclable, but now “Starbucks, the Seattle coffee company, plans to announce Wednesday that it will start stocking its store with cups made with 10 percent recycled material” (Warner, 2004, para. 2). Starbucks is one of the famous coffee shops, so they use a lot of cups. According to Warner (2004), Starbucks uses an estimated 1.5 billion cups annually. It is incredibly a lot, but they do not switch to recyclable material, because the cost is too high. Also Warner (2004) said, “The higher cost is one reason that other food companies have not switched to recycled cups” (para. 7). Some people think it is good to try even 10 percent, but some other people think this is too little to recycle. “Anna Kim-Williams, Starbucks spokeswoman, said she encourages customers to bring their own mugs, which she said helped North American Starbucks customers save more than 674,000 pounds of paper in 2006. Bringing one’s own cup to Starbucks scores a 10-cent discount on coffee” (Adewumi, 2007 para. 6). The real problem is people never care about whether the environment is being destroyed or not. Today, nobody thinks about how they can protect the environment, they just think how they can live well. We would find out how much the environment is important to live for us, when the environment is destroyed.
There would be some problems if they tried to switch to recyclable cups, but they did not try, because it is expensive. They need to announce to bring customers’ own mugs to save paper. Now they use large amount of paper; if they tried to find a method to help the environment, customers would be glad to know that Starbucks is green even if that is pretending.
First, I believe that Starbucks earns a lot nowadays as everyone knows, but I don’t understand why they care about money too much to change to recycled cups. According to one article, “Chaplin said Solo has fully recyclable cups in development that use plant-based resins made from corn. These recyclable cups are expected to be able to be available in early 2008, but Chaplin said the corn demand is high now, which may drive up the cost of the cups for potential buyers like Starbucks” (Adewumi, 2007, para. 10). I just think negatively, because I believe they don’t care whether the environment is destroyed or not. I mean they just do that because they want to show us that Starbucks is really worried about the environment in a commercial. If they really are worried, they ought to switch to more than 10% recyclable material or to fully recyclable cups. In my opinion people will spend more time at Starbucks when people think Starbucks is really eco-friendly. There are some people who do not care whether Starbucks is green or not, but some other people do. So even if a fully recycled cup is expensive, they ought to change for the environment and us. At first, they might earn less than before, because they spend a lot of money for fully recyclable cups, but as time goes on, they will not only earn a lot but also become more famous than before because they’ve tried to be green and done it. The coffee price should increase, because cups are expensive, but people will drink at Starbucks, because they are greener. I think it is good for both Starbucks and the environment, because of that reason.
Second, Starbucks uses a lot of paper cups annually, and such a large amount of paper is becoming garbage now. “Starbucks, which uses an estimated 1.5 billion cups annually, currently puts recycled paper into its cardboard cup sleeves, napkins and cardboard carriers” (Warner, 2004, para. 4). “Starbucks, which goes through 1.9 billion cups annually, plans to eventually increase the recycled-fiber content of its packaging” (Anderson 2006, para. 2). If they are really eco-friendly, they should find a method to help the environment. But they do not do anything at this moment; they do not appear to care whether a large amount of paper is becoming garbage. And there is one more problem that “Amy Schirf, Centre Country Solid Waste Authority education counselor, said the county does not accept the coffee cups, and said she was not aware of any waste management group in Centre County accepting them” (Conrad, 2007, para. 2). As the author says, the cups are not accepted, so where they are going? I am sure that neither anyone knows nor anyone cares about that. Almost nobody knows whether Starbucks cups are recyclable, even some who worked or are working at Starbucks (Adewumi 2007, para. 9). Also this article says that Starbuck also looks at what happens after the cup is used (2007, para. 14). They know they cannot throw their cups away anywhere. But they do not care about that. However someone who works at Starbucks feels guilty about dropping their cup anywhere.
Now, it is time for them to do something for everyone including employees, customers and the environment.
Third, if Starbucks tries to announce that if consumers bring their own mugs, cost will be down, more people will bring their own mug than now. According to Conrad (2007), “Customers in the United States and Canada took that offer more than 17 million times in 2006, saving 674,000 pounds of paper, said Starbucks spokeswoman Valerie Carborg” (para 17). But just few people bring their own cup, because people think bringing a cup is annoying. And also some people do not know that the price will go down if they bring their own mugs. I think if more people try to bring their own mugs, we can save incredibly a lot. I tried to bring my own mug and then I told them. I didn’t know how much cost would go down; however, it went down only 10 cents. After that I did not try to bring my mug any more, because it is annoying and price goes down too little. In my opinion Starbucks needs to discount more than 10 cents if customers bring their own mugs, and announce more clearly that bringing one’s own mug will make the price go down.
Some people say that Starbucks was first to include even 10 percent recycled material, so it is really good. However I strongly disagree about that. 10 percent-recycled materials are too little to make the environment better. “’Anything can be recycled, but the system is not designed to take the individual Starbucks cups’, said Steve Sargent, director of recycling for Rumpke Recycling, Columbus’ largest recycler” (Adewumi, 2007, para. 6). I think this means anything can be recycled, but in fact it is not practical to recycle Starbucks cups. The author says the Starbucks said that it was just first step, but they have not taken another step yet. I believe that they just wanted to attract consumers for selling their products by pretending to be going green.
In conclusion, they do try what other shops do not, because they brewed up the first FDA approved recycled cup (GreenBiz, 2004). Perhaps it is a really big deal with the environment, as many people thought at that time. However, even if they used approved recycled cups, recycling the cups was not practical in fact; I think it was just competition, not being worried about the environment, and they just wanted to get more money using a green icon. I can understand why other coffee shops have not changed yet. The reason they have not switched is they do not earn as much as what Starbucks earns. Perhaps, even if they want to switch, they cannot, because of money. However Starbucks has a lot of money to change to fully recyclable cups that are made from corn. If Starbucks tried to switch, customers would be more impressed and would go to Starbucks more. Nowadays, when people purchase something, some people check if the things are green or not, which means green is more important than ever. I am angry that they know their cups are not recyclable and they know nowhere accepts their used cups. They must find a method as soon as possible. I think it is not only Starbucks’ problem but also the problem of every place that uses non-recyclable cups. In Epps’ article “Craft Ideas for How to Recycle Starbucks Cups” (2008), he explains how to recycle non-recyclable cups. He says, we can get them and we can make something with them. It is really good to challenge, but the problem is how many people are doing it with them. I do not think many people try. I think it is a fantastic method to reduce paper, but I do not really think it has become popular. A lot of people do not know that bringing their own mugs will lower their price. So they need to announce their consumers to bring their own mugs and they need to discount more than 10 cents, because it is so little. They just want to show people they are doing so many things for the environment. I didn’t know anything about this before I read this article, so people don’t know what problems Starbucks actually has. Everyone should know and realize, and then they should make them consider the problems they have. I am sure that we will regret about this someday.
Reference
Adewumi, D. (2007, September 27). Starbucks, local coffee shops’ cups not recyclable. Collegian. Retrieved on April 29, 2008, from http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2007/09/27/starbucks_local_coffee_shops_c.aspx
Anderson, D. (2006, September 19). Creating the eco-cup. CNN. Retrieved on April 29, 2008, from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_achive/2006/10/02/8387528/index.htm
Conrad, D. (2006, September 19). Creating the eco-cup. CNN. Retrieved on April 29, 2008, from http://www.organicconsumers.org/article/article_7176.cfm
Epps, P. (2008). Craft Ideas for How to Recycle Starbucks Cups. Associated content. Retrieved on April 29, 2008, from http://www.associatedcontent.com/pop_print.shtml?content_type=article&content_type_id=448666
Starbucks Brews Up First FDA-Approved Recycled-Content Cup. (2004, November 18). Greenbiz. Retrieved on April 29, 2008, from http://www.greenbiz.com/news/printer.cfm?NewsID=27395
Warner, M. (2004, November 17). Starbucks continues to Greenwash with Weak Environmental Policy. New York Times News Service. Organic Consumers Association. Retrieved on April 29, 2008, from http://www.organicconsumers.org/starbugs/recycle.cfm
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