Starbucks fetted for recycled-content cups

A Starbucks cup found curbside.

The National Recycling Coalition intends to present its eighth annual Recycling Works award in January to Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) for its planned introduction of recycled-content cups in 2006. The company said the switch will reduce virgin tree fiber use by more than 5 million pounds annually.

Starbucks plans to introduce the 10 percent post-consumer recycled-content cups in January 2006. The new cups underwent a lengthy product development process that began in 1996, and spent four years in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval process.

Starbucks faced several challenges in introducing the packaging, many of which were related to the companies’ brand identity. The product design team worked closely with the company’s marketing staff to make sure the new recycled-content cups met Starbucks’ “bright white” specification.

Because Starbucks’ customers expect their cups to look a certain way, increase recycled content required the company to ensure the products’ aesthetics weren’t affected, explained Margaret Papadakis, a senior buyer responsible for packaging at Starbucks.

“It’s not something that can be done out of convenience,” Papadakis said at a May 2005 event in Portland.

With stores in 30 countries, Seattle-based Starbucks is the world’s biggest coffee retailer. In the United States, the company is estimated to now own more than 6,500 stores, as well as those under the names of Tazo Tea, Seattle’s Best and Torrefazione. The company has had 13 consecutive years of growth, and it ultimately plans to open 25,000 locations, not far behind McDonalds’ (NYSE: MCD) 31,000.