Is Coffee Greenwashing a Fair Label for Starbucks?

A TikTok video has renewed accusations that Starbucks exaggerates its environmental efforts. A customer brought a reusable tumbler, and a barista made the drink in a disposable plastic cup, poured it into the glass cup, then threw the plastic cup away. By May 22 the clip had more than 110,000 views, and commenters called it greenwashing: misleading claims about environmental efforts.

It is not an isolated complaint. The strawless lids introduced in 2018 were criticized for using more plastic, and deposit and recycling issues around reusable cups have drawn scrutiny. A commenter claiming to be a Starbucks partner said the plastic cup carries measurement lines for ingredient portions; another said reusable measuring cups are provided. The company promotes coffee-ground straws and Greener Stores.

Starbucks has long presented itself as environmentally friendly, from coffee-ground straws to the global expansion of its "Greener Stores," winning recognition from many environmentalists. However, a recent TikTok video shows a barista first making a drink in a disposable plastic cup, then pouring it into a customer's own glass cup, and discarding the plastic cup, sparking accusations of "greenwashing." In fact, this is not the first time Starbucks has been questioned over its environmental initiatives: the strawless lids introduced in 2018 were criticized for using more plastic, and the deposit and recycling issues of reusable cups have also been controversial. This article will review the incident and the responses from various parties, and look back at the multiple controversies in Starbucks' environmental marketing, to help you understand the true situation of this coffee giant on its path to sustainable development.

Starbucks has always appeared in the public eye with an image of emphasizing ecological and environmental protection, and in many cases it has indeed practiced what it preaches, such as using coffee grounds to make straws and tumblers, and accelerating the pace of opening "Greener Stores" around the world. These initiatives have earned Starbucks widespread praise from environmentalists. However, one customer felt very confused after witnessing the actions of a Starbucks barista.

On May 14 (local time), a netizen shared a short video on TikTok showing her own reusable Starbucks tumbler.

In the video, the netizen took her own reusable glass cup to Starbucks to buy a drink, and the Starbucks employee first made the drink in an ordinary plastic cup, then poured the finished drink into the glass cup, and finally threw that ordinary plastic cup into the trash can.

As of May 22, the video had been viewed more than 110,000 times on TikTok.

Someone claiming to be a Starbucks partner left a comment under the video explaining that this was done because the disposable plastic cups have lines printed on them, and these lines are used to measure the portions of ingredients. Another person suspected to be a Starbucks partner responded that Starbucks actually provides reusable measuring cups.

This netizen accused Starbucks of greenwashing. Greenwashing refers to companies exaggerating their environmental efforts in a misleading or false way.

In the eyes of many consumers, Starbucks has contributed a great deal to environmental causes. But this coffee giant's environmental marketing policies have not been questioned for the first time.

As early as 2018, The Guardian reported that Starbucks planned to eliminate disposable plastic straws by 2020 and launch strawless plastic lids with a sipping protrusion to replace plastic straws. Starbucks offered this strawless lid in more than 8,000 stores in North America.

REASON media reported that Starbucks' Nitro lid consumed more plastic than the previous combination of a plastic lid and a plastic straw. Some social media users also found that Starbucks' Nitro lid was noticeably thicker than previous lids.

Although Starbucks emphasized that the Nitro lid uses recyclable plastic material—polypropylene—The Economist reported in March 2018 that only 9% of plastic products worldwide can be recycled and reused, and a large amount of recyclable plastic ultimately does not enter the recycling process due to contamination and other reasons.

Although one lid only adds a little bit of plastic, considering Starbucks' enormous scale, small amounts add up, and it would not take long for it to become a considerable number.

Not long ago, Starbucks launched reusable cups, but a certain deposit is required. Because the earlier recyclable rental cups used PP material (polypropylene), they could not be recycled and reused after collection, generating a lot of waste, which led many people to question this.

Subsequently, Starbucks Japan took the lead in launching a stainless steel cup rental service, with a rental period of 3 days, during which users could decide how to use it themselves.

Even if Starbucks would perform high-temperature cleaning and disinfection after collecting the stainless steel cups, the COVID-19 pandemic still showed a growing trend worldwide, and consumers were also worried about this.

Image sources: The Economist, TikTok, internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.