Starbucks announced on July 9th, that they will be eliminating plastic straws in all their stores globally by 2020, and replacing them by alternative-recyclable solutions. This commitment has gained widespread media headlines and comments.
Personally, when I shared this news within my circle, the first of many comments were “what? that green straw!” This statement was often followed by a ‘how’ and ‘why’. Once the bigger picture of ‘global sustainability’ was clear to them, everything else was on the line of ‘but it represents Starbucks’.
Re-Branding
Any Starbucks drink is known by it traditional green logo and a green straw. To remove the straw would not only mean to re-brand the image of a Starbucks drink but also to allow for customers to adjust (and possibly dislike) the new alternative options.
The Environment
Most of the articles that I read showed pessimism towards this huge step and wondered if this would actually have any affect to the global plastic problem. The actual effect is yet to be seen, but as estimated by Starbucks themselves, it would reduce 1 billion straws annually. Any reduction at this point is important to save the sea-life and the environment.
The Chain Effect
Once the general consumers get used to the alternative solutions, i.e: strawless lids, recyclable straws, it would indirectly push the major fast-food chains to rethink about their straws for cold drinks. The united effort to reduce plastic consumption may have a positive effect to the environment.
The Cost
On the Starbucks page, they said this commitment would cost them $10 Million. Clearly, the long term perceived long term benefit is much larger than this cost.
This is one of the first steps at a commercial scale to stop plastic waste and harm. It’s to be seen how far the benefits will go, or if the decision will backfire on the Starbucks Brand.
FTK 🙂
Photo Credits: VisualHunt.com
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