Starbucks recycle ’shame’


Did you know that Starbucks don’t actually recycle!

Well not as much as you would think and you’ve just got to hear their reasons. Talk about Starbucks passing the buck.



Just think of all those hundreds of milk containers alone from each store which doesn’t recycle, pilling in to land fill and with over 4500 coffeehouses in 47 countries, that’s an enormous amount of land fill. It wouldn’t take long to fill the Grand Canyon!!

A friend of mine works in one Starbucks store. He felt so strongly about the sheer volume of waste NOT being recycled, that he asked the manager if he could take it home to recycle himself.

Now here’s the interesting part. They said no! because of various legal liability etc but because the state doesn’t provide a commercial recycling service, the company says it would be too expensive for them to do it and they actually prevented him from it himself.

In a recent press release on their recycling policy (September 18, 2007) they say…
“Starbucks and RecyclingStarbucks ability to recycle customer and store waste, including cardboard, paper, milk jugs, and organic waste, is dependent on the availability of commercial recycling services where our stores are located. Our policy for Starbucks company-operated stores is that where recycling services are available, stores are expected to recycle. In fact, at the end of fiscal 2006, 79 percent of our U.S. and Canada company-operated stores where Starbucks controls waste and recycling had recycling programs in place, a slight increase over the previous year.

Unfortunately, many local communities that offer comprehensive residential recycling may provide minimal or no commercial recycling, which limits our ability to provide recycling within our stores. In those cases, we encourage our customers to consider taking recyclable items such as glass and plastic bottles with them to recycle outside the store. “

You would have expected that a company the size of Starbucks would actually be able to put enough pressure on local state recycling services to provide the service rather than use it as ‘a get out’ for them ‘not to recycle’. Which brings me back to my friend, who works for in a store where commercial recycling doesn’t exist. If this is Starbucks position, to “encourage our customers to consider taking recyclable items such as glass and plastic bottles with them to recycle outside the store”, why was my friend expressly told he couldn’t do that.

Their mission statement declares…“Our NeighborhoodEvery store is part of a community, and we take our responsibility to be good neighbors seriously. We want to be invited in wherever we do business. We can be a force for positive action— bringing together our partners, customers, and the community to contribute every day. Now we see that our responsibility—and our potential for good—is even larger. The world is looking to Starbucks to set the new standard, yet again. We will lead.”

Come on Starbucks, stop passing the buck. You can lead the way in recycling EVERYTHING!Will they indeed lead the ‘green’ revolution and at least re-cycle within each store? Or will it take the people to rise up and demand it.

And come on local commercial recycling services, aren’t you missing a massive opportunity for your businesses! Don’t you think that if you could win Starbucks business you would win the business of eveyother fast food place too!

I’m sure each State in the USA could put this higher on their priority lists too. I’m convinced there would be more jobs as a result, less waste in land fill and more social responsibility for us all.

If you represent Starbucks, a local State government or commercial waste disposal company, or if you are passionate about our planet and recycling in general, I’d love to hear your views. Time to speak out. Time to make a change.

Tina Jesson - The Visibility Creator
Author, business growth & marketing consultant, trainer and speaker. www.tinajesson.com