then, the Starbucks double cup seemed like a great leap forward.
I thought that until I ran into a friend of mine who ran a landfill outside a small town. He was the first person I knew who recycled, and this was long before any of us had heard of curbside pickup or sorting the plastic from the glass. “What’s with Starbucks?” he said to me after I had just finished singing the company’s praises. “Why are they so special that they get two cups for every customer?” 13
Starbucks officials must have also heard this question. Or maybe it was the bottom-line people who responded first, looking for a way to cut costs and eliminate one of the paper cups. Wherever the impetus came from, in August 1996, Starbucks and the Alliance for Environmental Innovation—a branch of Environmental Defense, a group that helps companies, including Wal-Mart in recent years, “do well by doing good”—entered into a partnership to, in the words of both groups, “reduce the environmental impacts of serving coffee in Starbucks retail stores.” From the start, they had a broad focus with one eye always on the paper cups.
By 1997, Starbucks replaced the second cup with a three-finger-wide insulated layer—a java jacket. Obviously, the sleeves saved paper. Prettysoon, Starbucks salvaged even more paper—and more trees, water, and fuel—when it introduced jackets made out of 60 percent post–consumer use material—that is, paper made from discarded office paper, newspapers, cereal boxes, and other recycled materials. The company clearly felt good about this move, and it wanted latte drinkers to feel the same. “Starbucks,” it proclaims on every one of these sleeves, “is committed to reducing our environmental impact through increased use of post-consumer materials. Help us help the planet.”
Over the years, Starbucks has taken a number of other constructive steps to aid the planet. Each year, it donates money to the Earth Day Foundation to raise environmental awareness and improve environmental education. Around 2000 or so, it began to purchase significant amounts of alternative and wind-generated clean energy. It has also looked for ways to cut the use of electricity and trim carbon outputs from its stores. At the same time, it has established the Grounds for Coffee program. Many stores give away bags of used coffee grounds. This keeps them from weighing down trash bags and garbage trucks (again requiring more gasoline) and filling up landfills. The grounds also provide gardeners with effective compost that, in turn, helps naturally replenish soil. Following concerted research efforts, Starbucks reduced the size of its napkins and the thickness of its plastic bags. Together these innovations have allowed Starbucks, according to one report, “to prevent 1.8 million pounds of waste” each year from ending up in landfills. Company representatives also urged coffee growers to use fewer pesticides and more shade trees to protect the water supply and wildlife in the world’s developing regions.
Like a lot of companies, Starbucks ramped up its green actions in 2007, after Al Gore garnered his Oscar for the documentary
An Inconvenient Truth
. The company launched the “Be Green This Summer” campaign. As part of this, it initiated “Green Umbrellas for a Green Cause.” Hollywood celebrities America Ferrera, Chad Lowe, Lance Bass, Lawrence Bender, and Jo Frost, “who,” according to a Starbucks press release, “shared Starbucks’ passion for the environment,” transformedthe company’s trademark green umbrellas into “original works of art.” Afterward, they were auctioned off, with the proceeds going to Global Green USA, “a national leader in advocating for smart solutions to global warming.” During Be Green This Summer, Starbucks also introduced the online “Planet Green Game,” to teach players how to lessen their environmental imprint and trim greenhouse gas emissions. It followed this up by heavily promoting
I thought that until I ran into a friend of mine who ran a landfill outside a small town. He was the first person I knew who recycled, and this was long before any of us had heard of curbside pickup or sorting the plastic from the glass. “What’s with Starbucks?” he said to me after I had just finished singing the company’s praises. “Why are they so special that they get two cups for every customer?” 13
Starbucks officials must have also heard this question. Or maybe it was the bottom-line people who responded first, looking for a way to cut costs and eliminate one of the paper cups. Wherever the impetus came from, in August 1996, Starbucks and the Alliance for Environmental Innovation—a branch of Environmental Defense, a group that helps companies, including Wal-Mart in recent years, “do well by doing good”—entered into a partnership to, in the words of both groups, “reduce the environmental impacts of serving coffee in Starbucks retail stores.” From the start, they had a broad focus with one eye always on the paper cups.
By 1997, Starbucks replaced the second cup with a three-finger-wide insulated layer—a java jacket. Obviously, the sleeves saved paper. Prettysoon, Starbucks salvaged even more paper—and more trees, water, and fuel—when it introduced jackets made out of 60 percent post–consumer use material—that is, paper made from discarded office paper, newspapers, cereal boxes, and other recycled materials. The company clearly felt good about this move, and it wanted latte drinkers to feel the same. “Starbucks,” it proclaims on every one of these sleeves, “is committed to reducing our environmental impact through increased use of post-consumer materials. Help us help the planet.”
Over the years, Starbucks has taken a number of other constructive steps to aid the planet. Each year, it donates money to the Earth Day Foundation to raise environmental awareness and improve environmental education. Around 2000 or so, it began to purchase significant amounts of alternative and wind-generated clean energy. It has also looked for ways to cut the use of electricity and trim carbon outputs from its stores. At the same time, it has established the Grounds for Coffee program. Many stores give away bags of used coffee grounds. This keeps them from weighing down trash bags and garbage trucks (again requiring more gasoline) and filling up landfills. The grounds also provide gardeners with effective compost that, in turn, helps naturally replenish soil. Following concerted research efforts, Starbucks reduced the size of its napkins and the thickness of its plastic bags. Together these innovations have allowed Starbucks, according to one report, “to prevent 1.8 million pounds of waste” each year from ending up in landfills. Company representatives also urged coffee growers to use fewer pesticides and more shade trees to protect the water supply and wildlife in the world’s developing regions.
Like a lot of companies, Starbucks ramped up its green actions in 2007, after Al Gore garnered his Oscar for the documentary
An Inconvenient Truth
. The company launched the “Be Green This Summer” campaign. As part of this, it initiated “Green Umbrellas for a Green Cause.” Hollywood celebrities America Ferrera, Chad Lowe, Lance Bass, Lawrence Bender, and Jo Frost, “who,” according to a Starbucks press release, “shared Starbucks’ passion for the environment,” transformedthe company’s trademark green umbrellas into “original works of art.” Afterward, they were auctioned off, with the proceeds going to Global Green USA, “a national leader in advocating for smart solutions to global warming.” During Be Green This Summer, Starbucks also introduced the online “Planet Green Game,” to teach players how to lessen their environmental imprint and trim greenhouse gas emissions. It followed this up by heavily promoting
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