Starbucks’ Toronto recycling pilot program a success

Starbucks has finally proven that its paper cups are recyclable. Turns out that most paper drinking receptacles from Starbucks end up in the garbage—recyclers usually don’t accept them. The coffee behemoth wanted to demonstrate that recycling its paper cups is feasible, so it looked to the GTA, of all places, where it collected 6,000 pounds of used paper cups and sent them to a pulp mill in Mississippi as part of a six-week pilot project. We always knew Torontonian latte sippers were good for something.

Apparently, the project was a success. Old paper cups were turned into new ones without any special kind of wizardry, although the Mississippi paper mill that successfully recycled them is the only mill in the U.S. that produces recycled paper fibre that’s sufficiently high quality to be used for eating and drinking purposes.  The whole thing was part of Starbucks’ latest commitment to ensure that 100 per cent of its cups are reusable or recyclable by 2015. Still, it seems to us this whole thing should have been looked into a while ago. Like 1991, maybe.

• Where Does That Starbucks Cup Go? [New York Times] • Starbucks and International Paper Demonstrate Viability of Recycling Used Cups into New Cups [Businesswire]