Starbucks to promote more paper cup recycling

by Scrap Monster
Starbucks Coffee Company is one step closer to its goal of ensuring 100% of its cups are reusable by 2015, following the successful completion of a six-week pilot project that proved used paper cups can be recycled into new paper cups. Those colloborating with Starbucks in the project included International Paper Food Service, the larges tmanufacturer of Starbucks paper cups and Mississippi River Pulp.

Some communities already recycle Starbucks paper but most don't have the infrastructure in place to handle the collection and processing, according to the company.The Cup-to-Cup pilot was conceived earlier this year at Starbucks' second cup summit, which was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Cup-to Cup concept not only benefits not only Starbucks but the entire food service industry, according to a top official in Internaitional Paper Foodservice.
Starbucks launched the industry's first paper cup containing post-consumer recycled fiber in 2006, following several years of collaboration with Mississippi River. Over time, Starbucks says that its switch to cups made from 10% PCF has diverted nearly 200 million pounds of paper from the landfill. While the company's standard paper cups contain PCF made from office paper, the PCF used for the pilot project incorporates cup material.

Starbucks currently has another recycling pilot project underway in New York. The company is collecting paper cups at 86 of its Manhattan stores to determine whether they can be recycled into bath tissue and paper towels. In early 2011, Starbucks plans to launch a new recycling pilot in Chicago, aiming to transform the company's discarded paper cups into napkins for use in its stores. Over the past year, Starbucks has introduced front-of-store cup collection in Toronto and Seattle, where its cups can be recycled, and in San Francisco, where its cups can be composted.