Impact on the Environment

Starbucks offers affordable, reusable cups with discounts when used to buy a drink

When I went to a Starbucks last Friday, I was positively surprised to see an offer of simple, reusable cups for sale at a reasonable price of just 1 GBP with the additional promise to get 0,25 GBP price reduction when ordering a drink with a reusable cup.

Starbucks cups (Hinger, 2018)

The Starbucks mission statement is the following, as also displayed in store:

To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time. (Startbucks Corporation, 2018)

This mission implies a responsibility for the customers as well as the neighbourhood to me, also a responsibility for the environment we live in. Single use cups cause huge amounts of waste and I have been waiting for a long time for some action to redesign the whole system in a more responsible way.

According to Buchanan (1992), as introduced in one of our previous lectures, there are four layers of design:

4 Orders of Design by Buchanan (1992)

With regards to the new Starbucks offer, several of these layers are involved. In the store I had a closer look and observed the various aspects.

Details of the red Starbucks cups (Hinger, 2018)

From a graphic design perspective, the original, well-known Starbucks symbol has been used on a red cup. The cup itself as product attracts attention because of the striking colour. With this combination of colour and symbol, it is probably appealing especially to people seeing themselves proudly as a part of the Starbucks community, but also for the ones who want to give a signal to others for environmental awareness. A small leaflet in the cup points out the responsibility of the consumer to reduce waste as well.

The quality of the cup did not convince me though, unfortunately. The plastic is quite thin, so there is little impact on the heat of the drink. In addition the lid is only pressed onto the cup, which may not last as long as a screwed lid if opened and closed several times. I therefore question whether this is the most environmentally friendly design solution they have decided for.

Behind the reusable cup there is a whole system of how the drinks are prepared. At the ordering and payment desk I simply handed my cup to the sales person, he automatically deducted the 0,25 GBP from my price and wrote my name on a sticker to place it on the cup. It was also no problem that I actually had another reusable cup, not form Starbucks, but my beloved UAL-cup ;-)

Starbucks has offered some reusable cups already for some time. But with the affordable cup costing only 1 GBP and the 0,25 GBP discount the investment has amortized already after the 4th drink.

Starbucks' range of reusable cups (Hinger, 2018)

If there have been any design changes to the system within the organisation, I don't know, but definitely this campaign has a positive impact on society, creating awareness about sustainability and therefore contributes to a change within the system of society.

Only later I found out that in the US and Canada there was a free give-away campaign with the red cups on the same day (Starbucks Coffee, 2018). Unfortunately the supply did not last long enough and received negative publicity. (Wida, 2018)

I hope that this negative publicity does not reduce the impact of the campaign because it is definitely a positive action.

Me with a good feeling of not polluting the environment too much

with my reusable UAL-cup (Hinger, 2018)

Reference List:

Starbucks Corporation (2018) OUR MISSION. Available at: https://www.starbucks.co.uk/about-us/company-information/mission-statement (Accessed: 06 November 2018)

Buchanan, R. (1992). Wicked problems in design thinking. Design issues, 8(2), 5-21.

Starbucks Coffee (2018) [Twitter] 01 November. Available at: https://twitter.com/Starbucks/status/1057950379508424704 (Accessed: 06 November 2018)

Wida, E. (2018) 'Starbucks apologizes after its reusable holiday cup giveaway backfired', Today, 05 November. Available at: https://www.today.com/food/starbucks-reusable-cup-giveaway-flopped-people-are-mad-t141263 (Accessed: 06 November 2018)