Starbucks Press Release photo.
Starbucks, a global leader in single-use cup waste, just launched a phased rollout of compostable and widely recyclable hot drink cups across Europe.
Led by the Starbucks EMEA unit and following an inter-European manufacturing partnership, the cups avoid the typical polyethylene plastic lining found within most of the world’s hot to-go cups by introducing a mineral-based barrier.
Both the cups and their wood-fiber-based lid can be composted, either industrially or at home, or recycled in traditional paper recycling streams, according to the company.
“When disposing of the cup in home compost bins, customers are encouraged to break down the cup into smaller pieces first in order to encourage the natural composting process,” the company said in an FAQ-type post. “Customers should also remember to remove the sleeve and beverage label (if applicable).”
The launch marks the first time that the plastic-alternative technology, developed in partnership with Italian materials company Qwarzo, has been deployed at a commercial scale by a major coffee chain.
As existing inventory cycles through stores, the new cups are launching in Spain, Hungary, Italy, Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria, with the UK and Ireland to come later this year. A broader European conversion is expected to follow. Starbucks currently has approximately 3,500 European stores.
Starbucks Press Release photo.
The rollout follows nearly two decades of Starbucks’ publicly stated goals to introduce widely recyclable and/or compostable cups or phase out single-use cups. Most of those goals have not been met.
In 2008, Starbucks pledged to make a 100% recyclable paper cup by 2012, and to sell 25% of drinks in reusable cups by 2015. In 2018, the company pledged $10 million through a pre-competitive partnership with New York-based Closed Loop Partners as part of its NextGen Cup Challenge. That initiative resulted in numerous accelerator grants for businesses, although it has not yet resulted in Starbucks bringing a recyclable and/or compostable to-go coffee cup to market at scale. The company did not mention the initiative in its public promotion of the new European cup. In 2021, Starbucks said it wanted to phase out all single-use cups by 2025 by offering reusable options.
The new European hot cup is being manufactured by Transcend Packaging in Wales. The mineral coating that replaces traditional interior plastic lining is being made by Italian company Qwarzo. Paperboard used for the new cup is being produced by the Finnish company Metsä.
The paper and cardboard recycling rate across Europe is somewhere between 70%-80%, according to most estimates. By comparison, the United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the paper recycling rate is 68%.
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