Starbucks Expands Recycling Program With Coffee Cups in Chicago

Even in cities unfriendly to recycling, Starbucks is stepping up its recycling efforts.

July 01, 2010

CHICAGO - Beginning this fall, Starbucks will expand its recycling efforts as it sends cups used at its Chicago stores to Green Bay where a paper mill will turn them into Starbucks napkins, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The effort continues a push by the coffee giant to create a commercial markets for its used cups, which total in the billions.

Over the past few weeks, the company has put recycle and compost bins in 90 of its Seattle stores, complying with a new city ordinance. Its cups are also recycled or composted in San Francisco and Ontario, Canada, owing to local regulations. Commercial demand drives recycling efforts in areas without such mandates.

"The biggest roadblock to recycling is the lack of demand [for old paper]," said Jim Hanna, Starbucks' director of environmental impact and global responsibility. "We need to create demand for recyclers for our products."

Environmental activists at the As You Sow Foundation praised Starbucks efforts.

"Their goal is not just to have recycling bins in stores by 2015 but to find markets so all those paper cups actually get recycled," said Conrad MacKerron, director of corporate social responsibility at As You Sow.

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