Starbucks environmental protection action upgrade! Cancel the use of disposable cups and introduce a cup washing machine for guests to wash their own cups.

It has been a year since Starbucks said it would stop using disposable cups. Starbucks said on March 6 last year that it plans to completely stop using disposable cups in Starbucks stores by 2025.

The plan was first implemented in South Korea because South Korea already had a "plastic restriction order" before the outbreak, but it was shelved for more than a year or two because of the epidemic. It was not until this year that the South Korean government announced that it would impose "plastic restrictions" on major restaurant chains in June.

South Korea is Starbucks' fifth largest market in the world, with more than 1500 stores. Starbucks took the lead in supporting the "plastic restrictions" last year in line with South Korea's plans for plastic restrictions. In June last year, Starbucks in South Korea began offering recyclable cups, but they need to pay a "small deposit", which can be refunded when customers take the cup to a contactless kiosk. Because of the trouble, the reaction of consumers at first seemed to be mediocre, even troublesome, because they had to take it to the contactless kiosk to return it. After receiving feedback, Starbucks and the South Korean government also escalated the action, after consumers have finished using, as long as the Starbucks cup returned to any Starbucks store can refund the deposit, unlimited time. At the same time, it said that if you pick up a Starbucks cup on the street, you can also return it to any Starbucks to get a deposit. But this action does not seem particularly reasonable, as employees reflect that it is increasing their workload and should specify the return time, when the store is not at its peak.

After the move was not feasible, Starbucks upgraded its environmental program, launching the Plan Bmerry-borrow Cup (Borrow a Cup) campaign in stores in Seattle, Japan, Singapore and London. If consumers want to take away the drink, they must pay a deposit of $1 before they can take the cup away (boy, it is directly enforced). But as long as consumers return the cup to any store after using it, they can not only get back the deposit, but also get an extra reward of 10 stars (points), and when these stars reach a certain number, they can exchange some drinks and food.

The difference between Plan A (implemented in South Korea) and Plan B is that there are more stars, which is essentially just as cumbersome, so consumers in all regions do not seem to support this campaign so well. Starbucks also realizes that this way is a troublesome thing for both consumers and employees. So! Michael Kobori, chief sustainability officer at Starbucks, said on Tuesday that they had a new plan to encourage consumers to use reusable cups. This time Plan C is different from An and B, because this plan is to introduce a special cup washing machine, consumers can take their own special cup washing machine to clean and take away.

But the cup still needs to pay a deposit, and when it is considered to be very old, you can return the cup to Starbucks and get back the deposit / exchange for a new one. The plan to introduce a "special cup washing machine" will be tested temporarily at Arizona State University campus stores and some stores in the Hawaiian area.

Many netizens have reflected that this activity is environmentally friendly, but it is not convenient! Go to the coffee shop to buy a cup of coffee and return the cup to and fro, and it feels very unsanitary. In a previous discussion on the topic of "Starbucks reuse cups" launched by Sina Technology, 32000 people participated in the event, of which 20, 000 disagreed with Starbucks' action to reuse cups because it was unhygienic.

However, Starbucks, as the world's largest coffee chain, also attaches great importance to the hygiene of cups. On March 4, 2020, Starbucks announced that it would temporarily stop using personal cups in stores because it was worried about the spread of novel coronavirus. This is also the first time Starbucks has stopped consumers from bringing their own cups to stores to buy drinks since the introduction of their own cup policy in 1985. On the one hand, they are not allowed to bring their own cups, while encouraging people to use recyclable cups, they feel that something is wrong, but I don't know. Although Starbucks said the recycled cups will work with recycling company GO Box, each recycled cup will be washed and sterilized and sent back to the store for next use within 48 hours to reduce the waste of disposable cups. Friends in other areas do not know that the Guangdong partner, who has the gene of "go out to eat with tea no matter whether the tableware is clean or not," looks at these recycled cups and estimates that there is some estrangement in his heart.

At present, all Starbucks stores in mainland China have made full use of more environmentally friendly paper straws and direct drink cup caps specially developed to replace plastic straws, which can reduce the use of about 200 tons of plastic each year. It will take time to see whether Starbucks, which has been committed to environmental protection, can achieve its goal by 2025. Photo Source: Internet

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