Sipping at Starbucks

Sip in style all summer long.  Score a reusable straw.  That is what my email from Starbucks says.  Today (July 10^th) Starbucks is giving away free reusable straws when you buy a handcrafted cold drink.  I am not exactly sure what that means, but I am hoping that my strawberry acai refresher (little ice, no strawberries) qualifies.  So, I head to Starbucks before the straws sell out.  I am determined to get my very own Starbucks reusable straw.  I get there and there are ample straws. Apparently, the demand for the reusable straw is not as great as I would have thought or hoped actually.  It is summer and most people are ordering a Starbucks refreshing drink, so why are these not in higher demand?  I take my one straw.  I am definitely tempted to take more, but I do not want to deprive others of their chance of getting a straw.  I have to tell you it is the prettiest straw I have seen to date.  It is a multi-colored swirl of happiness.  It is turquoise, royal blue, yellow, and what I would describe as a hot pink.  I am not sure who chose these colors, but they are very appealing.  I am hoping that people will like the colors so much that they will take the straw and maybe even opt for reusable straws in the future rather than the throw away ones.  I am also hoping that Starbucks sees the positivity in providing reusable straws and provides these from now on instead of the numerous other ones that are usually on the counter.  Not only are there usually straws for the drinks, but there are generally about two to three types of straws.  There are the shorter ones for the smaller drinks.  The longer ones for the venti and trenta drinks and then the big thick straws which I am really not quite sure what drinks those are for.  But you get the point.  There are way too many straws.  I am not sure that this is accurate at every location, but it is certainly at my location and the locations that I have visited to date.  Starbucks is the world’s largest coffeehouse chain with over 35,000 stores.  So, I decide to do a little research.  I hop on to my laptop and look up Starbucks.  I am very impressed with its commitment to the environment.  This blog is about straws, but I can bring you up to date a little on what I have found in my search.  One of the first things I find is about their Ethos water bottles. I am very familiar with them.  Ethos is a company dedicated to raising awareness of third world clean water issues.  Starbucks donates a portion of its sales of Ethos water to fund clean water projects in underdeveloped areas.  In my research I also found that they have implemented a water conservation system, a “Grounds for your Garden” program (where customers can ask for grounds to compost) and has consistently announced its commitment to environmental sustainability.  Starbucks now uses 10% recycled paper in its cups and has committed to reducing its waste by 50% by 2030.  It even tries to make the use of reusable cups a little more appealing to the public by offering a small discount when you use a reusable cup.  It partners with environmentally conscious farmers as well a local food banks for the donation of leftover pastries.  

Okay, now I hit the jackpot of information.  Information about plastic straws.  I actually hit a lot of information.  So much information that my head is sort of spinning now.  But, let me recap what I think I have learned from all of my reading.  It seems that Starbucks previously announced that it would no longer use single use plastic straws by January 2020 on all cold drinks worldwide due to climate change concerns, pollution and sea turtle endangerment.  Because, as we all know or should know by now, plastic does not fully degrade and that is definitely not good for the sea turtles (as well as the other sea animals).  To recap for those that might not know, plastics break down into smaller pieces called microplastics which are often mistaken by animals as food and ingested which can obviously be very harmful to them.  Okay, back to the subject of Starbucks straws.  In my research I learn that their straws are made from a sustainable and environmentally friendly material.  I do some (okay a lot) more reading and I find that the Starbucks green straws are biodegradable and compostable since they are made from PHA, a material created from fermented canola oil.  I also learn that they are 90 percent biodegradable within 4 months.  I am not quite sure what happens with the other 10%.  At the moment I can’t seem to find the answer to that question.  I read on and learn about the Starbuck’s “sippy cup”. It is not quite the sippy cup that you used as a child, but it does look strikingly similar.  It brings back a lot of fond memories.  Memories of a time where I was to young to worry about the future of our planet.  But I deflect.  To eliminate the need for straws altogether, Starbucks created a sort of sippy cup lid for its cold drinks.   A one lid for all drinks.  They contain 9% less plastic than the prior lids. This is what I actually use for my Acai refreshers.  I happen to like it a lot more than using a straw. Any straw for that matter- big, tall, small or wide.  I am not sure why.  Maybe because it feels like the straw is in my teeth separating them.  I guess it is just personal preference. I do love this pretty colorful reusable straw however, so if I were to use a straw in the future outside of today, this would definitely be the one!  I continue down the rabbit hole of information on Starbucks and their straws and cups.  I learn that they released new cold cups in April. I had no idea. These cups are made with up to 20% less plastic than the current version. According to their website, the new cup is projected to annually reduce emissions equivalent to taking about 5,200 cars off the road and conserve enough water to fill 2,800 Olympic sized swimming pools of water.  The new cups will also keep more than 13.5 million pounds of plastic from landfills each year and they cost less to make.  Which savings will hopefully trickle down to us consumers.  My acai refresher costs a pretty penny so I can definitely use some savings here.  I am really impressed by what I read about Starbucks and all of their environmentally friendly initiatives and of course because this is only a blog, I could only write about a few.  However, even as I am reading about all of these fantastic initiatives there is one question that continues to linger with me.  If Starbucks has created this unique, environmentally friendly sippy cup lid, why are they still producing straws at all?  And even if they wanted to still produce some straws for those consumers that are just stuck on their straws, why do they need to produce so many types of straws.  You read earlier about the big, small and thick straw options.  These new compostable and biodegradable straws might be better for the environment, but you know what would really be good for the environment?  Not making them at all.  So, I do realize that I might be one of the few that don’t prefer to use a straw, but I do hope that upon reading this that people stop and think before just automatically grabbing for one of the non-reusable green Starbucks straws.  If I even get one person to take a second thought about it, I will feel as though my blog did good.  I mean one lid doesn’t always fit all.