Starbucks Shifting Away From Single-use Plastics

(RTTNews) - Coffee major Starbucks announced its plans to drop the idea of single-use plastics with the aim of reducing waste sent to landfill from its stores and direct operations.

According to the company, shifting to reusables cups is its primary strategy toward achieving Planet Positive goals, along with finding better ways to manage waste with more sustainable packaging solutions.

The company also continues to replace traditional plastic straws with new compostable options around the globe.

By 2025, the company plans to create a cultural movement towards reusables by giving customers easy access to a personal or Starbucks provided reusable cup for every visit.

By the end of next year, customers will be able to use their own personal reusable cup for every Starbucks visit in the US and Canada - including in café, drive-thru and mobile order and pay.

For the purpose, the company is testing a number of programs. Under "Borrow A Cup," customers order their drink in a designated Starbucks reusable cup, designed to be returned to stores, professionally cleaned, and reused by other Starbucks customers. The program was previously tested in Seattle last year and the company currently has live pilots in Japan, Singapore and London.

In the "100 percent Reusable Operating Models" program, single-use cups are eliminated entirely, in favor of reusables, personal cups or for-here-ware. The company tested this at four stores in Jeju, South Korea and recently expanded this an additional 12 stores in Seoul.

Further, "Personal Cups & For-Here-Ware" program encourages customers to bring their own cup and emphasizing Starbucks provided for-here-ware as the default sit-and-stay experience. The program is being tested at the company's experiential Greener Store in Shanghai.

Starbucks is also exploring more ways to offer customer incentives for meeting certain targets.

The company is launching different financial tests across the U.S. this year ranging from a $0.10 single use fee to a $0.50 discount. In the UK and Germany, customers who order their drink in a single-use cup receive a paper cup charge.

Starbucks will also trial new cup washing stations for personal cups in Arizona State University campus stores and in cafes O'ahu, Hawaii. Customers will be able to come into stores and have their cup cleaned before ordering their beverage.

A new Starbucks Partner Waste and Recycling App is also being launched to help partners navigate complex and unique store recycling guidelines.

The company has committed additional $5 million to continue its work with NextGen to innovate a more sustainable hot cup as well as to advance the recovery of foodservice packaging.