News, Why Starbucks won't recycle your paper coffee cup.

[Natural510]

Originally Posted by redrunner+2

I make my own coffee 99% of the time but I am wondering if I am the only one who hates drinking out of a paper coffee cup? I also hate drinking out of a plastic water bottle. I just have my own glass bottle that I use and I refill it. I guess only 2% of Starbucks customers feel that way but if I'm going to pay for an expensive coffee I'd like to have it in a mug.

It is really not that much effort, either. I'm not sure there is anything they can do to incentivize people to bring a cup. $.10 is not going to do it. I mean, I bring my own water bottle for free and I see people buying multiple smaller bottles of water for $3 a pop.

The American mentality states "why should I have to bring my own cup when I'm paying $4 for a latte?"

[Chi-town Native]

I just read the author's recent book, Junkyard Planet. It's excellent. One of the very few Western journalists based in China who is writing on the global scrap/recycling market.

He writes for Bloomberg, and also keeps this nifty blog:

What Really Happens to Your Christmas Tree Lights After You Recycle Them? | Shanghai Scrap

And writes the occasional in-depth article as well:

The Chinese Town That Turns Your Old Christmas Tree Lights Into Slippers - Adam Minter - The Atlantic

[IamCSpelch]

The cups have a plastic lining that prevents leakage, it is difficult and costly to eliminate. Composting isn't a good option either, and even though it can maintain the cups from ending up in landfills. Composting "generates greenhouse gases while destroying the recycling value packed into the cup’s fibers," Minter writes. Starbucks believe that there is no money in recycling their papercups and its very costly to recycle.