Starbucks has reflected its commitment to reducing carbon, water usage and waste footprints by introducing more sustainable cold beverage cups which uses 20 percent less plastic. These cups are set to debut in stores across the US and Canada this month.
Amelia Landers, Starbucks’ vice president of product innovation, said they spent the last four years developing the new containers. She shared that engineers tested thousands of iterations to see how much plastic they could remove while still making the cup feel sturdy. “We feel like its industry-leading. It’s the best expression of a cold plastic cup.”
Starbucks said the new cups, as per analysis of life cycle assessments, are projected to save emissions equivalent to taking about 5,200 cars off the road, and conserving about 2,800 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water. The company highlighted that the new cups will keep more than 13.5 million pounds of plastic from landfills each year.
“Accessibility features were folded in. Raised dots signify different sizes that can be felt by a swipe of a thumb, for those with low visibility. Letters are embossed on the bottom of the cup, so baristas can quickly confirm what size they’re grabbing during a busy rush when all the cups are stacked upside down. Black and white ‘fill lines’, indicating measurement specifications, allow for contrast against both light- and dark colored drinks.”
In recent years, Starbucks has removed single-use plastic straws from all of its stores, and introduced strawless lids, which are made from widely recyclable polypropylene plastic, across the US and Canada.
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