2Sustain

Starbucks wants mayors and other municipal leaders to evaluate and improve local commercial and residential recycling systems, so that the company can develop what it calls a “comprehensive recyclable cup solution” by 2012.

Starbucks made the pitch last week at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C.

As I’m sure you realize, current recycling capabilities vary considerably from city to city and county to county. So, Starbucks is looking  to partner with a variety of groups –including municipal governments, raw materials suppliers, cup manufacturers, retail and beverage partners, recyclers, environmental NGOs and experts from the academic sector –to rethink recycling programs and create sustainable systems that can work across its entire nation-wide value chain.

“Scalability is critical. We can only achieve it if we take a holistic approach and join forces with our entire value chain,” says Jim Hanna, Starbucks director of Environmental Impact. “Mayors are uniquely positioned to mobilize stakeholders at a grassroots level and help drive solutions that will make our cups and other packaging more broadly recyclable in form and in practice.”

Today, approximately 70 percent of Starbucks North American stores that control their own waste removal are recycling one or more items; however these are typically items behind the counter that are widely accepted for recycling, such as cardboard. The company is currently participating in a pilot sponsored by Global Green USA’s Coalition for Resource Recovery to test the recyclability of Starbucks paper cups with old corrugated cardboard, the most extensively recycled material in the U.S.

By partnering with diverse stakeholders, the company hopes to identify new recycling solutions that could be leveraged across the food service industry. I’m going to stay tuned to see how these public-private collaborations develop. Done right, they could serve as a models for other companies working towards broad-based sustainability initiatives.