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June 20, 2000
Starbucks Reinvents the Coffee Cup
A leader in the specialty coffee business partners with the Alliance for Environmental Innovation
to make strides in environmentally responsible coffee drinking.
SocialFunds.com --
In 1999, more than 12,000 specialty coffee outlets in the U.S. generated an estimated $5 billion in
revenues. That's a lot of cups of coffee, and with each cup comes attendant negative environmental
impacts on forests and landfills. But a recent report from the Alliance for Environmental
Innovation and Starbucks Coffee Company shows that specialty coffee businesses can take the lead in
improving environmental performance.
The report was the result of a partnership between
Starbucks and the Alliance that began in August 1996 to reduce the environmental impacts of serving
coffee in retail locations through innovative cup alternatives. Starbucks, the leading retailer of
specialty coffee in the world, with more than 2,800 retail locations serving more than 4 million
customers a week, is in an ideal position to promote environmentally responsible coffee retail
practices.
The Alliance for Environmental Innovation is a joint initiative of
Environmental Defense and the Pew Charitable Trusts to bring the expertise and perspective of
environmental scientists and economists to major corporations. The Alliance works cooperatively
with businesses to creates solutions that make both environmental and business sense.
"We
created the Alliance for Environmental Innovation with the Environmental Defense to find ways to
leverage environmental change in the business sector," said Joshua Reichert, director of
environmental programs at The Pew Charitable Trusts. "This project is a perfect example of this
concept in action."
One of the key initiatives of the Starbucks Alliance partnership was
to research and promote the possibility of moving away from disposable paper cups for beverages
drunk in Starbucks stores. Research verified the environmental and financial benefits of reusable
cups and glasses, lowering Starbucks' packaging costs with only nominal increases in labor
requirements or environmental impacts from running the dishwashers.
"Substituting reusable
cups for disposable cups is an opportunity for Starbucks to break new ground," said Ralph Earle,
director of the Alliance for Environmental Innovation. "This effort will benefit the environment
and enhance the Starbucks experience by making it convenient and attractive for Starbucks customers
to drink their coffee in reusable cups."
Prior to the study, not all stores carried
ceramic coffee cups, and none carried glassware for cold beverages. But as of 1999, about 20
percent of Starbucks stores were consistently using reusable cups for in-store beverages. When
fully implemented, this policy could save Starbucks more than $1 million per year in packaging
costs.
Another initiative involved the development of a disposable coffee cup for "to go"
orders as an alternative to "double cupping" or the recent use of a corrugated paper sleeve for
insulation. "In the process of developing a new environmentally preferable disposable cup with the
Alliance, we evaluated more than 40 different ideas and also came up with a few ideas of our own,"
said Sue Mecklenburg, Starbucks Director of Environmental Affairs.
Two years of research,
involving systematic screening and testing of prototypes, were required to identify a paper cup
that was both functional and an environmental improvement over Starbucks' current disposable cups.
Unfortunately, the final version apparently would not meet all the criteria and could not be
brought to market within a reasonable time and cost, so Starbucks management ultimately decided not
to adopt the new design.
But if Starbucks reinvented the coffee cup only to throw it away,
so to speak, the final result of Alliance partnership is still a positive step in the development
of more environmentally benign coffee retailing.
The partnership has paved the way for
other environmental initiatives at Starbucks, confirming their commitment to environmental
leadership. These include environmental purchasing policies regarding wood and paper products and
the collaboration with Conservation International to promote sustainable shade-grown coffee
cultivation.
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SRI World Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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