Starbucks widely recyclable plastic cups end up in landfills, incinerators: nonprofit

Environmentalists are slamming Starbucks for falsely claiming its plastic cups are “widely recyclable,” after an investigation could not confirm a single one being recycled. Vermont-based Beyond Plastics said Monday that most of the single-use, plastic cold beverage cups placed in recycling bins at Starbucks stores it recently tracked ended up in landfills or incinerators.The nonprofit advocacy group placed 69 Bluetooth-enabled trackers inside Starbucks’ in-store recycling bins.Of the 47 that provided data, 23 ended up in landfills and 11 wound up at incinerator facilities.Ten more were last detected at waste transfer stations, a stop on the way to a landfill, and three made it to material recovery facilities, which sort plastics, possibly for recycling.

But not a single cup was actually confirmed to be recycled, according to the group.“It’s kind of stunning that they won’t tell the public where this plastic is going after people dutifully make sure it’s clean and put it in the special recycling bin,” Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics and a former regional administrator for the US Environmental Protection Agency, told The Post.Outraged environmentalists are planning nine demonstrations across the state this week, including ones in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan, as they call on the java giant to stop spouting what the nonprofit called “rubbish claims.”Protesters are also urging lawmakers to pass the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, which would force companies like Starbucks to reduce their use of plastic packaging and reimburse municipalities for waste management costs.In 2020, Starbucks pledged to make 100% of its customer packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by the end of the decade.It started allowing US customers to bring their own reusable cups for mobile and drive-through orders in 2024.And in February, Starbucks published a joint press release with WM, the country’s largest waste hauler, formerly ...