Starbucks unveils new plans to eliminate single-use cups, encourage reusable mugs

[Eric]

Starbucks unveils new plans to eliminate single-use cups, encourage reusable mugs

Starbucks unveiled the latest steps it's taking to reduce its disposable cup use.

www.cnbc.com

• Starbucks unveiled the latest steps it’s taking to reduce its disposable cup use.
• By the end of next year, Starbucks customers will be able to use their own personal reusable cups for drive-thru and mobile orders in the United States and Canada.
• Single-use cups account for 20% of the company’s global waste, but it’s faced an uphill battle switching over to reusable versions.

Not sure about this, it's hard to imagine baristas handling dirty cups around their dispensers all day long. It just doesn't seem very sanitary.

 

[Andropov]

Not sure about this, it's hard to imagine baristas handling dirty cups around their dispensers all day long. It just doesn't seem very sanitary.

Whenever I have used my own mug or seen someone else use theirs at Starbucks, you typically hand a clean mug to the barista. At least that's what I've seen here.

In any case, the mugs never touch the equipment. Milk is frothed on a jar (I believe they keep separate jar for each milk type), and coffee shots are pulled onto shot glasses. Both are later poured into the mug, but there's no contact from the mug to any of the common-use equipment.

 

[Runs For Fun]

Curious how that would work for a mobile order.

 

[SuperMatt]

I remember in the 1980s, you would buy pop (aka soda) in 8-packs of glass bottles, which you’d return to the store when finished since the deposit was $.10 per bottle. Kind of funny how we supposedly “recycle” now with the recycling bins, but gave up a very sustainable method of selling a very popular item. We now know that plastic bottles don’t really get recycled, but when you got a mix of old and new logos on your pop bottles, you knew you were using something that had been recycled for many years.

 

[Joe]

I don't order Starbucks often but when I do I use the app and pick up in the drive thru. So they're expecting me to wait in the drive thru to give them my cup and then they'll make it?!

 

[Runs For Fun]

I don't order Starbucks often but when I do I use the app and pick up in the drive thru. So they're expecting me to wait in the drive thru to give them my cup and then they'll make it?!

This is what I’m wondering. I always go in to pick it up. But what’s the point of ordering it ahead so it’s ready when you get there if they’re only going to make it after you give them your cup?

 

[ronntaylor]

Whenever I have used my own mug or seen someone else use theirs at Starbucks, you typically hand a clean mug to the barista. At least that's what I've seen here.

In any case, the mugs never touch the equipment. Milk is frothed on a jar (I believe they keep separate jar for each milk type), and coffee shots are pulled onto shot glasses. Both are later poured into the mug, but there's no contact from the mug to any of the common-use equipment.

Former coffee-based cafe manager. Was trained by someone with several years of Starbucks experience. Customers can only hand over a clean mug. The mug never touches any equipment. As you stated, the milk is frothed in a separate container. The equipment is cleaned after every order individual order. The espresso is poured into shot glasses before it's then poured in the cup or customer's mug.

Until the Pandemic, Starbucks would sell reusable holiday cups and customers would get a modest discount when re-using them during the holidays.

Not sure how it will work for drive-thru orders though. I actually hate the paper cups. Just a weird mouth feel to me. And don't get me started on the adult sippy cup lids for cold drinks. WTF!!

 

[Herdfan]

I remember in the 1980s, you would buy pop (aka soda) in 8-packs of glass bottles, which you’d return to the store when finished since the deposit was $.10 per bottle. Kind of funny how we supposedly “recycle” now with the recycling bins, but gave up a very sustainable method of selling a very popular item.

Yep. As kids we would spend a whole summer day picking up bottles and returning them to the store.

 

[Arkitect]

Most of the large coffee chains (Starbucks included) in the UK have been accepting reusable cups/mugs for a while now.

But Covid was a bit of a blow to that:

Starbucks, Caffè Nero and Pret a Manger are among the high-street chains that will no longer accept reusable cups because of fears about safety during the pandemic, despite the British Retail Consortium saying there was “minimal evidence of any risks from reusable cups”.

Link

So now it is a bit of a toss up as to who will and who won't take your personal mug. Clean or not.

 

[Arkitect]

I remember in the 1980s, you would buy pop (aka soda) in 8-packs of glass bottles, which you’d return to the store when finished since the deposit was $.10 per bottle. Kind of funny how we supposedly “recycle” now with the recycling bins, but gave up a very sustainable method of selling a very popular item. We now know that plastic bottles don’t really get recycled, but when you got a mix of old and new logos on your pop bottles, you knew you were using something that had been recycled for many years.

Yep. As kids we would spend a whole summer day picking up bottles and returning them to the store.

In Germany there is the Pfand system.
Basically it is a deposit you pay on glass/plastic bottles…

You return them and get the deposit back.

When they bought their drinks, the shoppers paid a deposit on top of the cost of the beverage itself — the so-called Pfand. When they return their bottles and cans to the store, they get their money back.

"Before 2003, some 3 billion disposable beverage containers were dumped in the environment every year," Thomas Fischer, head of circular economy at NGO Environmental Action Germany (DUH), told DW.

These days, the country boasts a returns rate of above 98%. "It's impossible to reach a higher rate," Fischer said.

There are two types of bottles in Germany's Pfand system. The first, which have producer-set deposit prices ranging from €0.08 to €0.25 ($0.29), can be reused multiple times and can be made from glass or PET plastic. The second are single-use containers, which as the name suggests, are only used once before they're recycled. On these, the deposit price is fixed by the government at €0.25.

Link

 

[BigMcGuire]

My wife and I used to be Starbucks customers for a very long time (gold card) - from about the time when I got out of high school to about the time they started letting homeless people shower/sleep on the tables in the stores. After that, we moved on. My wife and I got harassed by several homeless people demanding we give them $ (they were sleeping on the tables in the stores) - and the employees saw this and did nothing. So we never went back after that (experienced something similar at another store as well).

Due to our recent Tesla purchase, we've hit up a few Starbucks over the last few weeks as they always seem to be the only thing open near the Superchargers (only place to take a leak). So I usually get a tea or something not terribly expensive as a thanks for letting me use the restroom $.

The sippy cup lids were a bit of a surprise (after not having been to a Starbucks for quite a few years).

I don't think I could frequent that place again. The Starbucks near my house have always had a 1-2 block line - even during covid.

 

[Joe]

And don't get me started on the adult sippy cup lids for cold drinks. WTF!!

Yes, I hate those. I always ask for a straw.

 

[ronntaylor]

letting homeless people shower/sleep on the tables in the stores.

It's a catch-22 for stores. They have to be careful that they're not discriminating against the homeless. I recall a story this week about a fast food joint that caused a bit of controversy by posting a sign banning "homeless" people from even entering (IIRC, Popeye's).

Decades ago when I worked security at Berdgorf's we couldn't prevent homeless people from trying on clothes if others were allowed to try on clothes. We got a lot of shit from sales associates when we would not simply tell homeless persons to leave or harass them. I for one was not going to be involved in any litigation.

And it is very frustrating when homeless people inundate you with their begging while you're simply trying to enjoy your java, sandwich, whatever. The Starbucks across from the gigantic Times Square Lowe's theatre is a no-man's land. I feel sorry for the unsuspecting tourists that get harassed. And pity the workers that have to deal with that daily. They're not paid enough to be enforcers on top of serving some a-hole entitled customer placing an obnoxious custom order.