A Bellingham-based environmental group built a “cup monster” and other creations with dirty Starbucks cups outside the coffee company’s annual shareholders meeting in Seattle.
A Bellingham-based environmental group called Stand.earth built a “cup monster” and other creations with dirty Starbucks cups outside the coffee company’s annual shareholders meeting Wednesday at McCaw Hall.
It’s part of Stand.earth’s effort to get Starbucks to make its cups 100 percent recyclable.
Starbucks paper cups are coated with plastic on the inside, which makes the cups not recyclable in many areas.
The coffee company says the plastic coating allows the beverage to hold up and that the cups are recyclable in some areas, including Seattle.
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“What is recyclable varies significantly by municipality and sometimes even by store, and we pay local private haulers across the country to collect and recycle hot cups along with our other recyclable products, compost and trash — and our cup is recyclable in many locations across the country including major cities like Seattle, New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Boston,” the company said late last year in response to another demonstration by Stand.earth.
Starbucks added Wednesday that since 2006, its hot cups have contained 10% post-consumer fiber, and that this year it replaced its hot cup lids so they can be recycled in more communities.
Stand.earth’s executive director, Todd Paglia, questioned the company on the issue during the question-and-answer portion of the shareholders meeting, resulting in an invitation from incoming Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson to meet to discuss the issue.