Starbucks is Hypocritical about community service. Although they supposedly pride themselves on being involved with projects that help improve the community, recycling and “making a difference in the world , In actual this is not the case . The Plastic cups which they use are not recyclable, and even if they were, many Starbucks stores do not have recycling bins. Starbucks bought 2. 5 billion cups for stores in North America in 2007.
The 10% recycled paper cups used by Starbucks are not recyclable, because the plastic coating that prevents the cup from leaking also prevents it from being recycled.
The plastic cups used for cold drinks are also non-recyclable in most regions. Starbucks cups were originally made using plastic #1 (polyethylene terephthalate, PETE) but were changed to plastic #5 (polypropylene, PP). The former type of plastic can be recycled in most regions of the U. S, whereas the latter cannot.
Starbucks is considering using biodegradable material instead of plastic to line the cups, and is testing composting of the existing cups.
It does not track recycling at licensed locations in airports, grocery stores and elsewhere. Environmentalists are not happy with Starbucks’ environmental record. They are concerned about everything from new plastic stoppers for coffee lids to Starbucks’ bottled water brand, Ethos. The Starbucks does not use recycled plastic in Ethos bottles, but the product is manufactured by PepsiCo, which uses recycled plastic in its own bottles.
Off Late Starbucks gives customers a 10-cent discount when they bring their own reusable cup, and it now uses corrugated cup sleeves made from 60 percent post-consumer recycled fiber. But the same is still not propagated in all the regions Also there are various complaints from the customers about the rude behavior of Starbucks Staff and poor customer service from the Staff. Although this may vary from region to region and store to store the baseline is being such a big name in the Industry Starbucks needs to concentrate more on Staff training on Hospitality and customer handling