Sustainability at Starbucks
This shareholder season, Green America is partnering with Moxy Vote to add consumer voices to those concerned shareholder who are pushing for changes at some of the biggest corporations.
We’re sponsoring Moxy Vote’s letter to Starbucks’s board of directors, requesting the formation of a new board committee on sustainability to help guide the company towards more environmentally conscious business decisions.
As a company that uses over four billion cups for coffee beverages each year, we think it is very important for Starbucks to consider the environmental implications of beverage container waste at to move to implement recycling policies.
Starbucks has committed to serving only recyclable coffee cups or reuseable mugs by 2015. That’s a step in the right direction. But in general, fast food establishments aren’t doing enough to recycle the waste they produce. Even if the containers the food is offered in are recyclable, most of these establishments don’t have recycling bins available in their stores. If no recycling option is present, the vast majority of in-store diners are going to use the option that IS available…the trash can. Beyond shaming these companies into doing more we need to press our elected officials to establish regulations governing recycling availability in the fast food industry.
See my discussion on the issue at http://tipsforrecycling.com/2012/02/24/why-arent-fast-food-restaurants-recycling/