E.A. Crunden@eacrunden reports for WasteDive
Starbucks is joining a growing group of food service companies seeking to minimize or zero-out waste, with an emphasis on shifting to more recyclable containers. The international chain announced this week it will launch a new set of ambitious goals, bowing to shareholder concerns around climate change and pollution.
In a public note from CEO Kevin Johnson, the company said it aims to switch completely to reusable packaging, expand plant-based food options, invest in supply chain sustainability, and focus on both recycling and waste reduction.
By 2030, Starbucks is aiming for “a 50% reduction in waste sent to landfill from stores and manufacturing, driven by a broader shift toward a circular economy,” along with a 50% emissions reduction and 50% replenishment for water withdrawal. “Our aspiration is to become resource positive – storing more carbon than we emit, eliminating waste, and providing more clean freshwater than we use,” Johnson wrote.
Starbucks has been under pressure from shareholders to improve on the company’s sustainability goals. As You Sow, a nonprofit shareholder advocacy group, has been working with Trillium Asset Management to push Starbucks on the issue.
In 2019, the partner organizations filed a shareholder proposal requesting Starbucks to revive a lapsed effort to recycle its packaging in developing markets, in addition to serving at least a quarter of its beverages in reusable containers. That proposal garnered support from 44% of shares voted, per As You Sow, or the equivalent of more than $20 billion.
The organizations refiled the proposal in 2020 after Starbucks failed to respond in 2019. The company responded with the new goals laid out by Johnson this week and the shareholder proposal has been withdrawn in response.
Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president for As You Sow, told Waste Dive that with the announcement Starbucks has become “the biggest company to make a commitment of this type.” As You Sow is not currently pushing any other companies on reusables, but is encouraging fast-food companies on “more preliminary steps,” he said.
That includes Yum! Brands (which operates KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) and Restaurant Brands International (Tim Hortons and Burger King), both of which As You Sow is pushing to “ban foam cups, stop using plastic straws, and collect packaging on site for recycling.”
