Starbucks has described its polypropylene (No. 5 plastic) cold cups as “widely recyclable”, saying more than 60% of US households could recycle them at the kerb. Beyond Plastics, a US campaign group, tested the claim.
Between January and March 2026 it put 53 Bluetooth trackers in cold cups and dropped them into recycling bins at 35 Starbucks stores in nine US states and Washington, D.C. Of the 36 trackers that sent usable data, 16 ended up at landfills, nine at incinerators and eight at waste transfer stations on the way to landfill or incineration. Three reached sorting facilities, known as materials recovery facilities (MRFs). None was detected at a recycling plant.
The team planned to cover 21 states but could place trackers in only nine states and Washington, D.C. In the other 11 states, the stores it visited had no recycling bins, or signs showing that cups went to landfill.
Why it matters: “recyclable” on a label only counts if cups are actually collected, sorted and made into something new. This small test suggests that, for these cups, they mostly are not. Access to a recycling bin is not the same as being recycled.
Thanks to Carly Wilson, director of the documentary Rubber Jellyfish, for sharing this with us.