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Dr. Mercola
October 09 2007
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Starbucks Cups -- Friend to the Environment?

Starbucks promotes recycling on the 2.3 billion paper cups it uses every year, and has even received a national award for using cups that contain 10 percent recycled material.

The cups’ sleeves also carry the slogan “Help us help the planet.”

However, despite their environmentally friendly image, Starbucks cups are not recyclable in most U.S. cities. Why? Because the cups have a plastic coating designed to prevent leaking, which makes it unable to be recycled with other paper products.

The plastic cups are not accepted by most recyclers either, including Waste Management, North America's largest recycler.

According to Starbucks, a more-recyclable cup is not an option, but the cup manufacturer said the cups could be made recyclable for about double the cost.

Meanwhile, the cups could be recycled if Starbucks tracked down a recycler that was willing to take them, and arranged a recycling program with them.

Starbucks points out that they do take strides to be environmentally friendly, including offering reusable mugs for in-store customers, selling reusable travel mugs in their stores, and giving a 10-cent discount to customers who bring in their own cups.

According to a Starbucks spokeswoman, more than 17 million U.S. and Canadian customers took advantage of the 10-cent discount for bringing their own cup in 2006, which saved 674,000 pounds of paper.

The Columbus Dispatch September 17, 2007



Dr. MercolaDr. Mercola's Comments:
The 2.3 BILLION paper cups that Starbucks uses every year is a huge burden on the environment, and I believe it’s up to the company to come up with a socially responsible solution. 

It's a step in the right direction, that cups are made with a small portion of recycled material, but the real issue is that most of these cups are still ending up in landfills because they can’t be recycled. So even those of you who have good intentions and attempt to recycle the cups will likely be unable to.

The waste of these cups is only the tip of the iceberg, though.

The article mentions that the cups are lined with a plastic coating to prevent leaking. I don’t know exactly what’s in that plastic coating, but I’d venture to say it may contain one or more endocrine-disrupting chemicals that are commonly used in plastics (including the plastic linings in canned foods and soda cans), and that could potentially leach into your hot beverage.

And then there is the problem with what’s inside those cups…

The Essential Info You Need on Coffee Drinks

First let’s address the coffee itself. There is a massive debate about whether coffee is healthy or harmful going on, and there are studies coming out constantly that attest to coffee’s negative health effects, and then its positive ones.

It appears that drinking coffee may interfere with your body's ability to keep homocysteine and cholesterol levels in check, most likely by inhibiting the action of the vitamins folate, B12, or B6. Coffee has also been previously associated with an increased risk of stroke and rheumatoid arthritis.

While I do believe that eliminating, or at the very least limiting, coffee should be one of your goals, if you are in the midst of other dietary changes such as those outlined in Take Control of Your Health, eliminating coffee can be put toward the bottom of your list, and you should strive to eliminate soda and fruit juice from your beverage list first as these are FAR more harmful to your health than coffee. It is important to have an understanding of the priority of the changes you need to make.

The exception here is for pregnant women. Caffeine is a stimulant drug that easily passes through your placenta to the developing fetus and is also transferred through breast milk, which is why pregnant women should NEVER drink coffee.

Now, if everyone were walking into Starbucks and ordering plain black coffee, that would be one thing. But most people are probably not.

Most people are probably ordering the heavily sweetened coffee drinks, complete with high-fructose corn syrup (now the NUMBER ONE source of calories in the American diet) or, just as bad, the artificial sweetener Splenda.

To top it off, that coffee drink likely contains both pasteurized cream and milk, neither of which are health foods in my opinion.

If you choose to drink coffee, there are a number of things I would suggest to lessen its impact on your health and the environment:
  • If you go out for coffee, bring you own glass or ceramic mug. You’ll save a paper or plastic cup, and avoid being exposed to any plastics chemicals.
  • Drink only organic coffee. Coffee is a heavily sprayed crop, so drinking organic coffee might reduce or eliminate your exposure to toxic herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers. It will also help the people working in the coffee fields, as they will be exposed to fewer pesticides as well.
  • Try "Swiss Water Process" decaf. If you are going to drink decaffeinated coffee, be sure that it uses a non-chemical based method of decaffeination. The "Swiss Water Process" is a patented method and is your best choice. Most of the major brands are chemically decaffeinated, even if it says "naturally decaffeinated" right on the container. If you are unsure of the methods, contact the manufacturer.
  • Avoid additives such as sugar, artificial sweeteners, and milk or cream. These are actually much worse for you than the coffee itself.
  • When making coffee at home, only use unbleached filters. The bright white ones, which most people use, are chlorine bleached and some of this chlorine will be extracted from the filter during the brewing process.
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Community Comments ( 35 )
 Comment on this Article
  
  
Vicki Marie
 [ Joined on 06/06 ] [ Posted on September 24, 2007 ]
10 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
Starbucks should offer a discount to anyone who brings their own clean cup from home. Save them money, us money, and helps the environment.
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
Jasked
 		[ Joined on 11/06 ]  [ Posted on September 24, 2007]
2 Points        
   
Apprentice User
  Mercola
The article states that Starbucks offers a 10 cent discount for people who bring their own cup. I don't go to Starbucks, so whether or not this is true I don't know.

If a person really were interested in being environmentally friendly, they would bring their own cup and there wouldn't be a problem.

Interestingly, the amount of energy used to simply wash a non-disposable cup is almost the same as the amount of energy used to manufacture and transport a disposable cup (1), so we're not really ahead when only energy consumption is taken into consideration. Paper cups are made from pulp that is a by-product from the production of lumber, so the pulp would be used for something else if nobody bought paper cups anymore. Most people use chemicals in their dish washers that are harmful for the environment, but manufacturing paper cups is also harmful to the environment.
 
If you would like to be environmentally friendly, the best solution is to simply stop drinking coffee. Drink water, and reuse your cup several times before washing it.

(1) http://www.ilea.org/lcas/hocking1994.html
Mercola
  
Kar_Kar
 		[ Joined on 06/07 ]  [ Posted on September 25, 2007]
3 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola
They do offer a ten-cent discount.  But (BUT) most of the people working the register don't seem to know about it so you have to remind them. 
Mercola
  
samurai
 		[ Joined on 04/07 ]  [ Posted on September 25, 2007]
5 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola
10 cents?  I would consider that an insult.  If they really did want to be environmentally friendly, they would up the ante, and forgo what they allocated as the markup on the cup. 
Mercola
  
Kaelisabeth
 		[ Joined on 07/07 ]  [ Posted on October 9, 2007]
1 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola

GO TULLYS!!! I don't like Starbucks coffee after I tasted Tullys! Now, I am even an employee there!

Tully's has 100%recycable cups (no shinning plastic coating), all their beans are 100% Certifyed Organic, and even the garbage bags used are recyclable. I LOVE the recycable garbage bags. They are nice to touch:) They like...iono, have a nice feel to them and are incredibly easier to tie up!

They do however sell Splenda, Equal, and Refined Sugar, but to make up for it, they sell Raw Sugar too:)

...okay, I confess...very seldom, I like to go to Starbucks for their sausage, egg, adn cheese muffins...

What can I say? I'm 90%organic:)

...I only go like..maybe once ever couple years...

...I'd rather promote Starbucks than Egg McMuffins at McDonalds...
Mercola
  
kpatricia29
 		[ Joined on 10/07 ]  [ Posted on October 9, 2007]
       
   
Novice User
  Mercola

most cups like that only cost ten cents per cup. somtimes five. so they are foregoing the cost.

  
  
proatc
 [ Joined on 12/06 ] [ Posted on September 21, 2007 ]
9 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
"They say their Seattle-based employer never made the situation clear."

Just shows that you can abuse your power and trick the average consumer and employee all for the price of the mighty stock dollar!
 [ Reply ]
  
  
GregB777
 [ Joined on 05/07 ] [ Posted on September 26, 2007 ]
5 Points        
   
 
Apprentice User
Whether you like coffee or not, I will give Starbucks a great deal of credit for providing health and dental insurance to even its PART TIME employees.  It is one of the few large companies to do this.  I think, at least in that area, it should be applauded.  Since the US government doesn't seem to feel that taking care of the health of its people is its job (there is no universal health insurance here,) and since most companies only provide insurance to full-time employees, this leaves millions of Americans uninsured.  I think Starbucks has really stepped up to the plate and has done the right thing by its employees. 
 [ Reply ]
  
  
samurai
 [ Joined on 04/07 ] [ Posted on September 23, 2007 ]
4 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
Interesting fact:  Starbucks opened a Starbucks last year in Saudi Arabia.  The men get one side of the store, and the women get the other.  One cannot inter-mingle with members of the opposite sex. 
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
Russ Bianchi
 		[ Joined on 09/06 ]  [ Posted on September 24, 2007]
14 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola
Everything is separated in the Kingdom, even weddings, why would Starbuck's be any different? 

The question is the Starbucks's Mermaid logo allowed, or is this 'forbidden', and the Mermaid is completely covered head to toe?

Another question I've never gotten a reasonable answer on from Sunni and Shia and Sufi friends, is, if alcohol is forbidden in Islam, as a metabolic depressant or toxic, why is coffee a nero stimulant allowed, along with Tobacco, which are equally health harmful? 
Mercola
  
samurai
 		[ Joined on 04/07 ]  [ Posted on September 24, 2007]
7 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola
Good question, Russ. 
Alcohol is allowed, just not to the plebians, and in private.
In fact many middle eastern countries use hashish. 
Is alcohol just as bad as tobacco?  I'm kinda thinkin' alcohol just might be just a little bit worse...
Mercola
  
hoopoe
 		[ Joined on 10/07 ]  [ Posted on October 10, 2007]
       
   
Novice User
  Mercola

OK, so now it's time to bash Muslims? Isn't enough of that going on already, most of it media lies? The truth is, Islam forbids anything that takes away reason and personal responsibility, but also anything that is addictive or harms the body, so some scholars forbid tobacco too, and some at least discourage coffee and tea.

Maybe Islam is so demonized these days because it's against the corrupt economic practices that make these companies so powerful in the first place -- regardless of what some Middle Eastern countries may do in a wrongheaded move to become part of the system.
  
  
Russ Bianchi
 [ Joined on 09/06 ] [ Posted on September 21, 2007 ]
4 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
More spin from Starbuck's, like their non announcement of reducing or eliminating trans fats in baked goods, in only 10 US cities, when they get around to it, years from now.
 [ Reply ]
  
  
jabdip
 [ Joined on 06/06 ] [ Posted on October 9, 2007 ]
3 Points        
   
 
This user is BELOW novice level and all their comments need to be reviewed with great caution.

Another Seattle based coffee company is doing a bit more in the way of social responsibility than Starbucks. Tully's uses fair trade certified organic espresso and fully compostable cups, www.tullys.com/.../green.aspx. Unfortunately they only have stores in the western US, www.tullys.com/storelocator.

Starbucks has given a discount for the use of personal cups for years. If I take my Starbucks paper cup back in later the same day, I can get a refill of brewed coffee for 55 cents. (Yes, I'm probably ingesting additional toxins from the coating but as a Harley rider I'll most likely get run over by some SUV driving soccer mom yakking on her cell phone before I succumb to Starbucks-coffee-cup-coating induced cancer)

Those who vilify the Starbucks corporation because of their personal taste should be ashamed of themselves. If you don't like Starbucks coffee don't drink it. That doesn't make them evil. Google Ron Paul for a lesson on liberty. As the slogan states, "you life is not my fault; my life is not your business".

And for the illiterati out there, Starbucks is named after the first mate in Herman Melville’s "Moby ***" and the logo is a siren, not a mermaid.

 [ Reply ]
  
  
Rebecca
 [ Joined on 08/06 ] [ Posted on October 9, 2007 ]
2 Points        
   
 
Novice User

Just like everything in life, it's all about personal choice. Being from Seattle Washington and used to Starbucks way back when it was in it's infancy, I have fond memories of it. (I still have the old heavy porcelain mugs with the original mermaid on them.) I always knew when a restaurant served Starbucks coffee because it was obvious from the first sip that it was distinct in flavor and better than any other coffee out there.

 [ Reply ]
  
  
HAPPY LADY
 [ Joined on 04/07 ] [ Posted on October 9, 2007 ]
2 Points        
   
 
Novice User

ONE OF OUR FRIENDS WAS BEHIND MY HUSBAND TO DRINK STARBUCKS COFFEE. IT'S THE BEST YOU HAVE TO TRY IT . SO HE FINALLY DID AND SAID IT WAS THE MOST DISGUSTING COFFEE HE EVER DRANK..  NO STARBUCKS FOR HIM!!!!!!!!!!!

 [ Reply ]
  
  
katieannpc
 [ Joined on 02/07 ] [ Posted on September 23, 2007 ]
2 Points        
   
 
Savvy User

I am glad that I don‘t use Starbucks - only when I was at a conference in Chicago and that was the only available. It‘s sad that these people believe all the propaganda....

Starbucks coffee stinks compared to my favorite - Cafe Campesino. Fair trade, organic, shade grown. LOVE it! Our favorite variety is the Nicaragua Medium roast.

www.cafecampesino.com  

 [ Reply ]
  
  
mmc88121
 [ Joined on 11/06 ] [ Posted on September 22, 2007 ]
2 Points