A new report from an environmental advocacy group is raising questions about whether plastic cold-drink cups from Starbucks are actually being recycled despite the company’s claims that the cups are “widely recyclable.”
The report, released Wednesday by the group Beyond Plastics, found that none of the Starbucks cups it tracked over a three-month period ended up at an actual recycling facility.
The findings come just months after Starbucks and allied organizations announced that polypropylene cold beverage cups had entered “a new era of recyclability,” stating that more than 60 percent of U.S. households could recycle the cups through curbside programs.
To test that claim, Beyond Plastics placed 53 Bluetooth-enabled tracking devices inside Starbucks recycling bins at 35 stores across nine states and Washington, D.C. According to the report, 36 of the trackers provided usable data, but none were traced to a recycling plant.
Instead, the group reported that about 30 percent of the tracked cups ended up in landfills, while 17 percent were sent to incinerators. Another 6 percent reached materials recovery facilities, where recyclables are sorted and baled, but those facilities generally do not process materials into new products.
Susan Keefe, Southern California director for Beyond Plastics and leader of the report, said there is a major difference between plastic that is collected for recycling and plastic that is ultimately reused.
Environmental advocates note that recycling rates in the United States remain relatively low overall. According to recent national estimates from the EPA, only a small percentage of plastic waste generated in the U.S. is ultimately recycled, with many plastics ending up in landfills or incinerators instead.
Starbucks defended its recycling claims in a statement responding to the report. The company said its cups are designed to be recyclable and that the “widely accepted for recycling” label reflects that capability. Starbucks also argued that successful recycling depends heavily on local infrastructure and access to proper recycling systems.
The coffee giant also questioned Beyond Plastics’ methodology, saying the Bluetooth tracking devices themselves were made of non-recyclable materials that may have affected where the cups were routed.
Beyond Plastics recommended that Starbucks reduce its reliance on plastic cups by encouraging reusable ceramic or glass cups for dine-in customers and considering fiber-based alternatives for takeout beverages.
Source: Beyond Plastics, wapo