Starbucks cups aren’t as recyclable as you think they are.
In fact, the paper cups aren’t recyclable at all due to a polyethylene lining that rejects their admission to the recycling plant. With nearly 4 billion cups of coffee sold per year by Starbucks alone, that’s an awful lot of cups going straight to a landfill.
Back in 2008, Starbucks made a goal to serve 25% of their beverages out of reusable cups by 2015. Yet, the goal switched in 2011 to serve 5% of beverages made in stores in personal tumblers by 2015 when they realized they had only increased the percentage of reusable cups by a mere 1.9%.
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