For a generation and more, Starbucks' throwaway cup has been a cornerstone of consumer society, first in the United States and then globally
in cities like San Francisco, the goal for years has been to shed disposable paper and plastic.
The road to overhauling the container transcends just making a different choice or spending money. Improving sustainability requires navigating a web of technological developments, seeking out like-minded suppliers and testing how far customers can be pushed to change. Cups too damaged to be reused, along with disposable Starbucks cold drink cups and other plastic found in the trash, are sent to the university’s Circular Living Lab. They're shredded, melted and extruded into long, lumber-like pieces. Those pieces are cut, sanded and built into boxes, which become the return bins for the reusable cups.
That pushes the limits of what can be done with recycled paper material that holds hot liquids. Paper pulp from recycled cups has shorter fibers than virgin pulp, which means less rigidity, important particularly with hot coffee. How much recycled material can be used in manufacturing new cups depends on how equipped any particular area is to gather material and recycle it. Big cities have major recycling infrastructure, but many communities around the world have little to no recycling capacity.
A similar testing and refining process is happening with disposable cold-drink cups. At the Tryer Center innovation lab in Starbucks' Seattle headquarters, drinks with ice in plastic cups are placed in holders attached to a platform. It then shakes as technicians look for leaks and flaws. "If it passes tests with baristas, then we would put it in the stores,” says Kyle Walker, a packaging engineer on Starbucks' research and development team.Eventually, the endpoint is this outcome, which is more sustainable and good PR, too: No more disposables at Starbucks.
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