Reply From Starbucks About Recycling

Posted on October 8, 2007 in That Pisses Me Off | 2 Comments

Starbucks has responded to my previous post about Starbucks recycling via email. Here you go:

Hello Mika,

Thank you for contacting Starbucks Coffee Company with your questions regarding our recycling efforts.

Starbucks is committed to protecting and improving the environment, and is continually pursuing opportunities to reduce, reuse, and recycle our waste products where commercial facilities exist. Most of our retail store recycling is conducted “behind the scenes” in the back room (boxes, milk jugs, etc.). If you are not certain that recycling is taking place in a store, please ask a store manager; he/she can explain what we are doing, what is recyclable in the local area, and what the landlord will allow for waste disposal. One of our challenges is that some parts of the country can process more recyclable materials than others. We are working with a recycling subcontractor to locate local recycling facilities to process materials generated from each store.

In addition to our retail stores, Starbucks recycling programs exist in our other facilities, including Starbucks Support Center, our global headquarters in Seattle, and our roasting plants in Kent, Washington; York, Pennsylvania; and Carson Valley, Nevada. Additionally, we consider
recyclability, reusability and recycled content in our paper and packaging purchases to reduce our impact on the environment. Last year, Starbucks paper products contained 26% post consumer recycled content. We have targeted 30% post-consumer content for all future paper purchases.

On the waste reduction side, we are focused on encouraging reuse of coffee grounds by packaging them and giving them to customers to use as a soil amendment in their gardens. We also offer customers a 10¢ discount each time they use their commuter mug to enjoy their Starbucks beverage. Last year, our customers used their own mugs 13.5 million times, which prevented 586,800 pounds of paper waste from reaching landfills. Reusing coffee grounds and the commuter mug discount complement our recycling efforts because they help to minimize the amount of waste that is produced in each store.

Please know that we appreciate your comments and that we take our responsibility to the environment very seriously. Your concerns will be forwarded to our utility specialist, who manages in-store recycling for North America. If you have additional questions or comments, please contact us at info@starbucks.com or call 1-800-235-2883 to speak directly with a customer relations representative.

Thank you again for contacting Starbucks Coffee Company.

Sincerely,

(name removed)
Customer Relations Representative

If you would like to share your thoughts about your experience with Starbucks Customer Contact Center, please click on the link below to participate in a short survey. Your comments will be used to ensure that any future experiences with Starbucks Customer Contact Center meet your highest expectations.

http://www.starbuckscontactcenter.com/star….

I think it’s a pretty good explanation of what they’re doing, but I think here in Portland most people are a lot more demanding of recycling, and I for one would like to see it so customers can recycle too.

Starbucks Recycling & Other Feedback

Posted on October 3, 2007 in Save the World, That Pisses Me Off | 3 Comments

Dear Starbucks,

As a patron that visits mostly your Portland stores at least 20 times per month if not significantly more, including some necessary evening and afternoon caffeine injections, I find it really sad that your business decisions seem to include a lot of unnecessary waste.

This isn’t some rant about how you are evil by trying to conquer the world of coffee retailing (if you haven’t already) but some long-considered feedback about waste that is apparent to me as a consumer, and things that could be easily rectified.

Below you’ll find a few reasons that could be dealt with. I’ve even included some suggestions so I’m not one of those complainers that actually offers no input on how to make things better.

You don’t offer recycling for plastic, glass, or paper in your stores. At our office, we’ve decided to put your paper cups to good use for something (stay tuned for this one) since it pains me to toss them away at your store. We used to carry them back to our office to recycle, but that is so boring and would be unnecessary if you had a recycling container on-site. As a side note, it really frustrates me when I get a “double cup” from baristas. Isn’t that what the sleeve was intended for? Quick fix: Get some recycling bins from your local garbage suppliers and put them in the store. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just useful.

Only 10% recycled fiber in your cups? Come on now. 10% is barely anything. But I’m ignorant about food-container laws, so maybe this isn’t your fault. I’ll not press it. Quick fix: Have cups produced with higher recycled materials if possible.

Your “Song of the day” idea is great. But why print cards to give away? This is just more wasted paper and trash. Shame on you! Ya’ll are from Seattle, right? Aren’t you all tree-huggers up there, or is the money starting to get in the way of business decisions? Quick fix: Give away a different code every day on something like starbucks.com/song/ or print the code on your cups or the hot-sleeves.

You’re selling songs on itunes now instead of a CD. This is great! But please don’t make us buy cardboard to go download electronic music. But, at least this is a step in the right direction. Now if only I could recycle the cardboard after I download my music onto the laptop or ipod touch through the on-site t-mobile hotspot…

Also, please stop putting more add-on sale stuff into your stores. I know it’s nice to make more money (hey, I like it too) but I don’t want to buy a book or a stuffed animal with my morning coffee. The extra space could be used for expanding your food offerings (good job on the bacon-avacado-burrito thingy and the lunch salads) to include some items that are presumably healthier than the glazed donuts and chocolate coffee cake. I for one would by more food-ish items for breakfast or lunch.

Thanks for listening.

I Ran 5 Stoplights on Friday

Posted on May 13, 2007 in Save the World, That Pisses Me Off | Leave a Comment

I rambled earlier about how I can’t stand inefficiently timed traffic lights and how we could reduce idling emissions put out by cars just by having the lights timed better.

Sure, that would help a little, but I think what might help even more is to have them on sensors. It wouldn’t be too hard to retrofit radar sensors onto lights, although sure it might be a little costly. But what’s more costly - radar sensors or those under ground wires they bury?

Here’s the deal on Friday. I woke up at 4:45am, wide awake. After about 20 minutes tossing around, I decided to go to work early and off I go. While on the way, I came to 5 different traffic lights that allow side-street traffic to flow onto more major roads. Every single one turned red right as I got there, with NO ONE coming from the sidestreets. So instead of just sitting there waiting, I decided to go through after stopping.

It’s a known fact that cars pollute more during “cold start” conditions that can last for a varying amount of time depending on the vehicle, your driving habits, speed, etc, so I’ll use the “environmentally unfriendly” concept as an excuse, but it’s also super irritating to have a timed light turn red for NO REASON at all. Especially at 5am when the roads are empty. Here’s a quick solution - make these types of lights so the minor road is blinking red, and the major road is blinking yellow during certain hours of the day. Say like, 11pm to 6am, or whatever traffic surveys show as the low hours of driving.

I know, this is probably really nit-picky (I’ve been called that recently) but it seems like such a waste. And since Americans can’t figure out the “yield to the right” concept, this could be a good 2nd choice. Along with that, make it so the left turns are allowed without a separate signal during these times too. The more you safety-net everyone, the less likely they’ll live up to higher expectations - so give us a chance, the dumb ones will die, but that’s just part of nature.

Now, I’m not like a complete red-light-running fool. The lights that actually had a reason to change because of traffic or pedestrians, I stopped at. There were 2 of those. So on my commute 71% of the red lights I encountered were there to do nothing other than cause irritation, take me longer to get where I was going, and cause my car to pollute more and get worse gas mileage.

Oregon Recycling Law Issues

Posted on February 8, 2007 in Save the World, That Pisses Me Off | 1 Comment

I think this kind of stuff is a joke! We all need to step up and recycle more, and those of us who own companies need to focus on being the most effective and efficient because as a whole companies have much more impact than one individual does. Recycling should not be a commodity market. I would be a proponent of no-flexibility for the companies and requiring them to comply, with the exception of allowing for an average of recycled materials used in all their containers rather than requiring each and every one to have that percentage of recycled material. I think we should also raise the percentage to 35% if feasible, and have a tiered structure that increments the required recycled content up in the future.

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Snow In Portland Gives Me Road Rage

Posted on January 16, 2007 in That Pisses Me Off | Leave a Comment

I love snow. I just can’t stand all these people who think they can drive in it, but can’t. You’re ALL wrong. Here’s why:

- 2 and 3 lane roads do not become 1 lane with you in the middle swerving back and forth because you’re afraid of parked cars, and oncoming traffic. Stay in your lane so I can get past you.

- The speed limit is not 10mph. Just park your car and walk or take the bus if you want to go that slow.

- The lights on your car work to help other people notice you in lower-than optimal visibility. Like when it’s snowing. Turn them on.

- You’re driving a Subaru. They have AWD - I know you can go faster!

- Spinning your wheels on the snow is okay. It’s a bit slippery, remember? Don’t freak out, just spin them a bit longer instead of hitting the brakes and your car will move forward.

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