Starbucks is planning a change to its iconic cups. As reported by Danielle Harling at Delish, Starbucks is reportedly “working to get rid of its disposable cups by 2030.” Some locations are already testing out reusable cups in-stores. The question of how Starbucks would handle to-go or delivery orders is still up the air. This is part of an multi-decade initiative to reduce “our carbon, our water and our waste footprints by half by 2030.” Although the material of the cup will ostensibly change, the signature logo and color scheme will remain consistent.
How potentially successful is this endeavor? That remains to be seen. As Peter Prengaman writes in Fortune, though, Starbucks announced in 2008 that all of their cups would be “recyclable or reusable” by 2015 — and that has clearly not happened. Pregaman also notes that a mere 1.2% of Starbucks’ sales in 2022 were in reusable cups or mugs. “Our vision for the cup of the future — and our Holy Grail, if you will — is that the cup still has the iconic symbol on it,” said Michael Kobori, head of sustainability at Starbucks. “It’s just as a reusable cup.”
Ensuring this change across the board, of course, will be a real challenge. As Prengaman writes, “For all the talk of sustainability and increasing consciousness about climate change, it’s fair to assume that a significant number of Starbucks’ disposables end up in landfills”
