New Starbucks Cup Controversy - This Time Over Waste

SEATTLE, WA - The newest Starbucks cup controversy isn't about what's on the cups but about what's inside them. The Bellingham-based Stand.earth group is holding a five-day vigil outside Starbucks headquarters in Seattle to highlight that the company's cups are not 100 percent recyclable.

Starbucks' cups, according to Stand.Earth, are lined with plastic, making them unsuitable for some recycling facilities. But Starbucks said in statement that its cups are recyclable in a few cities, including Seattle, New York, and San Francisco.

No coffee cups - whether from Starbucks or a small local shop - can be recycled in cities that do not accept paper cups, the company said in a statement. Stand.earth says Starbucks has broken a promise to create a totally recyclable cup.

“Nine years ago, Starbucks made a promise to give us a 100 percent recyclable cup. But to this day, they’ve left us with nothing but broken promises,” said Jim Ace, Corporate Campaigner at Stand.earth, in a statement.

To demonstrate the waste, Stand.earth built a giant "Cup Monster" from over 1,000 Starbucks cups and a cup wall made from 8,000 cups - the number of cups Starbucks uses every minute, according to Stand.earth. Starbucks uses approximately 4 billion cups per year, the group said.

Stand.earth will be in front of Starbucks' Sodo headquarters all week. They will also visit the Seattle Sounders game Thursday night.

Image courtesy Bernhard Uhl/Stand.earth