Sofia Martinez
Starbucks has been trying to find a greener alternative to its single-use coffee cups for 30 years. The company has yet to develop a recyclable cup, and only a small percentage of drinks it sells are consumed in non-disposable cups or mugs. Starbucks has also struggled to get customers to use reusable cups, despite incentives such as discounts and low-cost reusable tumblers. The company has tried other sustainable ideas, such as experimenting with a borrow-a-cup program, and has recently announced redesigned plastic cups that use up to 20% less plastic. However, it is unclear if Starbucks sells their plastic cups to customers. Some sources indicate that Starbucks does not sell their plastic cups, while others suggest that it may depend on the individual store and manager.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Plastic cups for sale | Starbucks does not sell its single-use plastic cups. However, some stores might give them away for free if asked. |
| Reusable cups | Starbucks sells reusable cups that are similar to their single-use plastic cups. |
| Environmental impact | Starbucks has been criticized for its contribution to plastic waste. The company has been trying to find a greener alternative to its single-use cups for 30 years. |
| Sustainable initiatives | Starbucks has introduced various initiatives to reduce waste, such as offering discounts to customers who bring their own cups, selling $1 reusable tumblers, and experimenting with a borrow-a-cup program |
| New cup design | In 2024, Starbucks announced redesigned plastic cups that use up to 20% less plastic, with tall, grande, and venti cups using the same-sized lid. |
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What You'll Learn
- Starbucks does not sell plastic cups for retail
- Starbucks has been trying to find a greener alternative to its single-use coffee cup for 30 years
- Starbucks has experimented with a borrow-a-cup program
- Starbucks' plastic cups for cold drinks have been redesigned to use less plastic
- Starbucks' cups can be recycled but usually are not
Starbucks does not sell plastic cups for retail
Starbucks does not sell its plastic cups for retail. The company has been trying to find a greener alternative to its single-use coffee cups for over 30 years. Starbucks has been criticised for its contribution to plastic pollution, with the company using over 8,000 paper cups a minute, amounting to more than four billion a year.
Despite its recyclable cup remaining in development, Starbucks has been making efforts to reduce its environmental impact. The company has set a goal to reduce its waste and carbon output by half by 2030 and has introduced a range of more sustainable cold cups that use 10 to 20% less plastic. Starbucks has also tested a borrow-a-cup program in various locations, including Seattle, Japan, Singapore and the United Kingdom, where customers pay a deposit for a durable cup that they return after use.
Starbucks does sell reusable cups, and some stores might give you plastic cups if you ask, but this is at the discretion of the store manager.
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Starbucks has been trying to find a greener alternative to its single-use coffee cup for 30 years
Starbucks has been trying to find a more environmentally friendly alternative to its single-use coffee cup for 30 years. The company has offered a 10-cent discount to customers who bring their own cups to US stores since 1985 and introduced $1 reusable tumblers in 2013. However, Starbucks has struggled to get a significant number of customers to embrace the idea of reusable cups. In 2019, only 1.4% of Starbucks' beverages were sold in reusable cups.
Starbucks has also been working to reduce the environmental impact of its paper cups, with teams of employees focused on this challenge. The company launched a cup sleeve in 1997 as an alternative to double-cupping to reduce waste. In 2006, Starbucks introduced hot cups made with 10% post-consumer recycled fiber, the first of their kind to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Starbucks has also tested various sustainable paper cups but has yet to find one that meets their standards.
In 2019, Starbucks launched a $2 reusable polypropylene cup designed to look like its paper cups. These cups are sturdier than paper, thinner than a typical tumbler, and have a lifespan of about 30 uses. Customers receive a dime discount for each refill in the cup, so it pays for itself after 20 uses.
Starbucks has also held innovation contests, worked with rivals and suppliers, and enlisted the help of MIT academics in its quest for a greener cup. The company has made incremental changes, such as redesigning its cold cup lids to eliminate the need for plastic straws. Starbucks has also tested more than 12 greener technologies for paper cup liners and is aiming to double the recycled content in its cups by 2022.
In 2025, Starbucks introduced a lineup of more sustainable cold cups in stores across the US. These new cups use 10 to 20% less plastic compared to previous cold cups and will keep more than 13.5 million pounds of plastic from landfills each year. The company also redesigned the tall cup to have a wider mouth and profile so that it holds the same 12 ounces as the previous version, but uses the same lid as the grande and venti cups. This reduces clutter and saves valuable shelf space.
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Starbucks has experimented with a borrow-a-cup program
Starbucks has been trying to find a greener alternative to its single-use coffee cups for 30 years. The company has acknowledged that its cups "can be recycled under the right circumstances" but are usually not due to the difficulty of separating the cup's plastic lining from the paper.
In April 2021, Starbucks announced the launch of the "Borrow A Cup" trial program in five Seattle stores. The program allowed customers to order their beverage in a reusable cup for a $1 deposit. When the cups were returned, customers received their deposit back, along with 10 rewards points through the chain's loyalty program. The cups were then professionally cleaned and sterilized before being reused. The trial program was part of Starbucks' goal to reduce waste by 50% by 2030, with each borrowed cup replacing up to 30 disposable cups.
The Borrow A Cup program was later expanded to 15 stores in Hong Kong, where customers could borrow a reusable cup for any hot or cold drink in Tall, Grande, and Venti sizes. The program aimed to encourage customers to shift away from single-use cups and build a more sustainable future.
Starbucks has also been researching and testing solutions to make cups, lids, and straws easier to recycle and compost. The company has offered a 10-cent discount to customers who bring their own cups to US stores since 1985 and introduced $1 reusable tumblers in 2013. However, these initiatives have not significantly changed consumer behavior, with only 1.4% of Starbucks' beverages being sold in reusable cups as of spring 2017.
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Starbucks' plastic cups for cold drinks have been redesigned to use less plastic
Starbucks has been trying to find a greener alternative to its single-use coffee cup for 30 years. The company has offered a 10-cent discount to customers who bring in their own cups to US stores since 1985, and in 2013, it introduced $1 reusable tumblers. Despite these initiatives, only 1.4% of Starbucks’ beverages were sold in reusable cups as of spring 2017. Starbucks has also tested reusable cup programs in California, Arizona, Colorado, Japan, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.
In April 2024, Starbucks introduced a new version of its cold cup, which is made with up to 20% less plastic. The new cups are part of a sustained sustainability push at Starbucks, which has also included the adoption of strawless lids in 2019 and the acceptance of customer-provided cups for drive-thru and mobile orders in the US and Canada. The company plans to roll out a reusable cup program at thousands of stores in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, where customers will pay a small deposit for a cup that can be reused up to 30 times and returned to any store for a refund.
The new cold cups feature raised dots near the bottom, so baristas, including those with impaired vision, can quickly identify the cup size by touch. The 12-ounce "tall" cup is also shorter and wider to accommodate the same lid as the larger "grande" and "venti" cups, reducing the number of different lids needed. The cups are also color-coded to aid in identification.
The new cups are projected to keep more than 13.5 million pounds of plastic out of landfills each year and will also reduce emissions and water usage in the production process. Starbucks also conducted tests with baristas and customers to ensure that the new cups did not affect the sturdiness or ability to keep drinks cold.
While the new cups represent a step towards sustainability, some critics argue that they do not go far enough to address the "plastic crisis." Starbucks has also faced criticism for the lack of broad access to recycling for its cups, and the company has fielded proposals for alternative materials such as mushrooms, rice husks, and corn leaves.
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Starbucks' cups can be recycled but usually are not
Starbucks has been trying to find a greener alternative to its single-use coffee cups for 30 years. The company has offered a 10-cent discount to customers who bring in their own cups to US stores since 1985. In 2013, Starbucks introduced $1 reusable tumblers and encouraged all locations to provide porcelain "for-here" cups. However, these initiatives have not significantly changed consumer behaviour.
Starbucks cups can be recycled but usually are not. Most recycling facilities do not recycle paper cups because they would have to separate the cup's plastic lining from the paper, which is often more trouble than it is worth. If recycling facilities try to recycle paper cups without separating the materials first, the plastic lining is likely to jam their machines. As a result, the cups usually end up in landfills or the environment, where the plastic lining can break down into microplastics that may harm marine life or enter the human food chain.
Starbucks has held innovation contests, worked with rivals and suppliers, and even enlisted the help of MIT academics to find a solution to this problem. The NextGen Cup Challenge, for instance, attracted 480 entries proposing cups made from mushrooms, rice husks, water lily pads, corn leaves, and even artificial spider silk. Many of the winning designs put forth greener alternatives to plastic lining, like water-based coatings that are both recyclable and compostable.
Starbucks has also introduced strawless lids for cold brews and cups made with 10% recycled materials. The company is also testing out a new idea to eliminate waste with use-and-return cups, currently available in some countries such as Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. By 2025, Starbucks promises that all stores will have this option.
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Frequently asked questions
Starbucks does not sell their plastic single-use cups. However, they do sell reusable cups, which are more environmentally friendly.
Starbucks has been trying to find a greener alternative to its single-use coffee cups for 30 years. The company has struggled to get a significant number of customers to embrace the idea of reusable cups.
Starbucks has fielded many proposals for greener alternatives to plastic lining, such as cups made from mushrooms, rice husks, water lily pads, corn leaves, and artificial spider silk. The company has also tested a borrow-a-cup program, in which customers pay a deposit for a durable cup that they return after use.
Starbucks uses over 8,000 paper cups a minute, adding up to more than four billion a year. The company has introduced new cups that use 10-20% less plastic and are projected to save more than 13.5 million pounds of plastic from going to landfills annually.
Some Starbucks stores might give you plastic cups if you ask, but it depends on the store and manager.
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