Starbuck's Paper Project
Starbucks Paper Project
Changing the way coffee is served
Posted: 27-Mar-2006; Updated: 20-Mar-2007
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In March 2006, Starbucks introduced a new disposable cup containing 10% postconsumer recycled content. The journey to this more eco-friendly vessel began ten years ago with an Environmental Defense-Starbucks partnership formed to explore ways to reduce the environmental impacts of serving coffee.
Starbucks' double trouble: nested cups
Given the billions of cups of coffee that Starbucks serves every year, any strategy for reducing the company's environmental impact had to address its paper cup. In the past, Starbucks often served its hot brews in two paper cups, for the sake of its customers' fingers. Because the cups are made from 100 percent bleached virgin paperboard, which has serious environmental impacts, Environmental Defense realized both the coffee company and its patrons wanted an alternative to double cupping.
"Paper is a tremendously resource-intensive product to produce," explains project manager Victoria Mills, "and the decomposition of paper in landfills generates methane, a greenhouse gas with 23 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide."
After much research, tests and a series of focus groups, we recommended two environmental and economic improvements to Starbucks cups: introduce reusable cups and design a new, environmentally preferable single-use cup. To this day, Starbucks customers who bring in their own reusable cups get a ten cent discount on their cup of joeit's one of the best ways to enjoy a green green tea or coffee.
Paving the way to a better paper cup
To tackle the problem of the paper cup, the project team challenged Starbucks' suppliers to find better materials and designs for its disposable cups. The team evaluated several designs, which included adding an insulated outer layer...
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