Starbucks CSR Report

By
 Starbucks CSR Report

Starbucks Coffee is one of the largest coffee companies in the world and has over 14,000

stores just in the United States. By virtue of being such a large company, the actions of Starbucks

have an effect on the environment and community that support them. Starbucks management

focuses on several core values including having environmentally friendly and greener cups.

During Starbuck’s 30 year history the company has had an emphasis on taking care of the

environment and being as “green” as possible. Starbucks has taken an initiative and has led the

charge among coffee shops on how to source your product ethically, use “greener power”, and

eliminate harmful wastes from their cups. As of 2016, Starbucks had constructed “more than 1,200

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified stores in 20 countries” and

account for nearly 20% of all LEED-certified stores globally. Starbucks also has plans to open

10,000 LEED-certified stores by 2025, compared to Dunkin Donuts who only had 100 LEED-

certified stores by 2016 (Sustainability Disclosure Database). A big part of having an

environmentally sustainable store is to serve your products in a sustainable material.

 Figure 1

Another area that Starbucks excels in compared to their competition is in utilizing more

environmentally friendly cups. According to Starbucks own Social Impact Performance Report,

Starbucks was the first major coffee company to offer a discount to customers who bring a reusable

cup, a practice that is widely used in coffee shops nowadays. Starbucks uses at least 10% post-

consumer fiber in their hot cups and has a goal to double the percentage of recycled material used in

hot cups and find an alternative to plastic for cold cups by 2022. Starbucks utilized paper cups,

which are made from a renewable resource and are more easily recyclable and decomposable (see

figure 1) than cups made from Styrofoam. When compared to Dunkin Donuts, who still use

polystyrene foam and contribute to the 25 billion foam cups used annually (which even Dunkin

admits is harmful to the environment), it is safe to say that Starbucks is one of the leaders in using

greener cups (Earth Day Network).

Figure 2

Starbucks being a leader in the industry does not mean that they are perfect, though. While

the company does primarily serve hot drinks in more sustainable paper cups, Starbucks also sells

millions of cold drinks served in plastic cups that are not as environmentally friendly. In the UK
alone over 3 billion cups are discarded into landfills, which will take hundreds (potentially

thousands) of years to decompose (see figure 2). While it would be unreasonable to believe that

every customer should buy and use a reusable cup, I think it would be smart for Starbucks to heavily

encourage customers to use their own reusable cup. This can be achieved in three steps in my

opinion. The first step is to massively spread awareness of the effects of plastic cups on the

environment and the time it takes for them to decompose, similar to how Starbucks did on National

Coffee Day in 2017 (Giattino). This step would make consumers aware of how they personally are

effecting the environment, essentially eliminating their indirect blindness. The second step would be

to offer a larger discount to customers that bring their own cups. While Starbucks does currently

offer a discount, 10 cents, I feel that is not big enough of an incentive to encourage consumers to

lug around their own cup all day. And lastly, it would be in Starbucks best interest to offer a free or

steeply discounted reusable cup to their most loyal customers. Through their app, Starbucks has data

on their customers and should know what group are using the most plastic (Marr). By offering a free

or discounted reusable cup, Starbucks would be able to cut back on their waste while also showing

appreciation to their most loyal customers and build brand loyalty.

 Works Cited

“Fact Sheet: How Much Disposable Plastic We Use.” Earth Day Network, 8 Jan. 2019,
www.earthday.org/2018/04/18/fact-sheet-how-much-disposable-plastic-we-use/.

Giattino, Steve. “A Hot Serving of Empty Promises? Dunkin' Brands, the Enduring Foam Cups,
and Sustainable Coffee.” Technology and Operations Management, 15 Nov. 2017,
rctom.hbs.org/submission/a-hot-serving-of-empty-promises-dunkin-brands-the-enduring-
foam-cups-and-sustainable-coffee/#_edn12.

Marr, Bernard. “Starbucks: Using Big Data, Analytics And Artificial Intelligence To Boost
Performance.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 31 May 2018,
www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/05/28/starbucks-using-big-data-analytics-and-
artificial-intelligence-to-boost-performance/#11f6264065cd.

“Single Use Plastic Cups: The Alternatives.” Creative Carbon Scotland,

www.creativecarbonscotland.com/resource/single-use-plastic-cups-alternatives/.

“Starbucks Global Social Impact Performance.” Sustainability Disclosure Database,

database.globalreporting.org/reports/55724/download-report-pdf/.