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Starbucks Japan recently announced four new measures with which they hope to reduce plastic usage in their stores. The chain proposed the measures as a part of their global effort to reduce waste by 50 percent by 2030. Starbucks will make the switch to environmentally friendly materials and promote reusable drink ware in order to reduce the number of disposable cups, lids, and cutlery.
The four measures being implemented are as follows:
-- Stores will serve iced beverages in glasses
-- Iced beverages will be served without a lid
-- More stores will offer reusable tumblers that can be rented
-- Cutlery will be reusable or made from 100 percent plant-derived materials
Let’s look at these measures in more detail, starting with iced drinks being served in glasses. (top photo).
From April 18, 106 Starbucks stores in Japan will start offering iced beverages in glasses for customers who are drinking them in-store. Glasses are available for short and tall sizes (including Frappucinos), with larger grande and venti sizes available in select stores. Any customers who wish to stick with disposable cups may do so upon request.
The second new initiative is to serve cold drinks without their usual plastic lids.
Also starting from April 18, 113 stores around the country will begin to serve iced drinks in cups without plastic lids, with the exception of children’s drinks. This measure will be applied to all cold drinks (again, including Frappucinos) when they are bought for in-store use. Plastic lids will remain for all hot drinks to make them easier to carry, and to prevent scalding. Plastic lids will still be available to customers who want them upon request.
This initiative is set to be rolled out nationwide later this summer.
The third measure is to further promote the use of reusable drinking containers.
In select stores around Tokyo, stainless steel rental tumblers are available for people who order drinks to go. The tumblers can be used for hot or cold drinks, and customers can rent them for three days before they are returned to the store, washed and used once more. A further nine branches in Shibuya will trial the rental service from April 4.
The final new measure is to introduce more eco-friendly cutlery and utensils.
In a nationwide first, Starbucks will begin to offer customers cutlery made from 100 percent plant-derived materials. The cutlery is biodegradable and will be given to customers who order food to go. On top of that, from the end of March stores will give eat-in customers stainless steel yoghurt spoons to ensure their eat-in line of cutlery is all reusable. This practice will come into effect in Starbucks stores across the country from the end of March.
▼ Starbucks hopes to end single-use plastic for in-store customers.
Starbucks Japan already has a history of measures to make their stores more friendly to the planet, such as introducing paper straws instead of plastic ones, and recycling paper cups into cute notebooks, and we’re looking forward to even more eco-friendly initiatives from them in the future, too.
Source, images: Starbucks Japan
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
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-- Starbucks waste reduction initiative to start in Tokyo: borrow a cup, use it, then return it
© SoraNews24
10 Comments
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GBR48
Not the best time for re-usable anything, especially in Japan. JT articles have featured more non-contact options to avoid Covid than anywhere else in the world. Japan is still keeping most foreigners out, as disease threats. Will Japanese people really want to eat and drink from things that others have used?
Mat
So, is making and washing those glass cups really more environmentally friendly than making the plastic cups?
It takes a shockingly small amount of plastic to make one of those cups, and very little energy. Compared to making the glasses, it's significant. Plus, all those glasses need to be delivered to the stores, probably on container vessels and road trucks. Glass is very heavy compared to a plastic cup.
I'm not convinced of the benefit here. I'd love to see the breakdown analysis that Starbucks did in order..... oh, wait, they didn't do any of that, they did "marketing" instead, marketing is better than research, just ask a marketer.
Christopher Bauer
Revolutionary! Why not go the next stop and try serving coffee in china cups with saucers. We could call it - oh, I don't know... a coffee shop?
bass4funk
Then that means, we can never go to ANY restaurant ever again.
Miss Rhiza Pascua
Pointless for a number of reasons, but mainly...
1) You can still request a plastic straw as of today, which means they are still being made and still being purchased by Starbucks. So it affects the plastics industry 0%.
2) Same is true of all the cups, lids, and utensils - now and in the future - they will be available upon request, thus still made, still purchased, still supported by Starbucks and all these other companies who want you to believe they care about the environment.
On a related note, it's no different than the obsession with grocery stores here now charging you for a plastic carrying bag, but you can use unlimited amounts of there thin plastic bags to put each individual item you purchase in multiple layers of plastic. The logic there makes no sense whatsoever.
And this coming from a country who's people love to sit in their cars on the side of roads, parking lots, etc with the car running while they sleep, watch tv, talk/play on their phone, etc. Gotta eliminate plastics but complacently running your car for hours a day while not moving is perfectly fine for the environment.
Tom San
All plastics do NOT need to be "banished" from eateries.
Miss Rhiza Pascua
Evil Plastics is just a marketing scheme hatched in the same way the high carb diet was deemed the "healthy" way to eat for the last 60 years.