KNOW YOUR STARBUCKS CUP OPTIONS
When you fill your cup at Starbucks, you’re not just getting the finest coffee, handcrafted by our skilled baristas. You’re customizing your community coffeehouse experience, which includes options to reduce waste and make each visit a more sustainable choice.
At our cafés throughout the U.S. and Canada, you now have a variety of cup options to choose from.
- Mugs and Glassware: When you order any beverage (including coffee, tea, and all specialty beverages) to enjoy in our company-owned stores with cafe seating, it will be served in a ceramic mug or glass unless a customer specifically requests a to-go cup.
- Did you know? You can get free refills of hot or iced brewed coffee and tea when you choose to enjoy your first beverage in the café.
- Personal Cups: Starbucks is the first and only national coffeehouse in the U.S. to allow you to bring your clean personal cup—whether it’s a reusable tumbler, thermos, or travel mug. You can use it for every visit to company-owned and licensed stores in the U.S. and Canada, including drive-thru and mobile orders.
- Returnable Cups: In more than 30 markets worldwide, we’ve tested specially designed cups that can be returned for reuse! For instance, in Petaluma, California, we piloted a program that made our returnable cup the default option for to-go drinks across an entire city.
- Commercially Compostable Cups: In a small number of stores, Starbucks provides compostable cups and lids due to local government requirements.
Reusable Revolution
Since introducing the option for customers to use a personal cup for every visit in the U.S., Starbucks has helped eliminate on average two million cups per month from waste streams.
In café, when ordering, tell the barista you brought your own clean personal cup. The barista will collect your cup without the lid and your beverage will be returned the same way.
In drive-thru, when ordering let the barista know you brought your own clean cup. At the pickup window, baristas will collect your cup without the lid using a contactless vessel to ensure hygiene and safety and your beverage will be returned the same way.
In Starbucks app (mobile order),
- From the menu, choose your beverage, select the size and then tap the “Customize” button
- Scroll down to “Cup Options” and select “Personal Cup”
- Select “Done customizing” followed by the “Add to order” button.
- When you arrive to the Starbucks store, go the beverage pick up area and give your clean personal cup (without the lid) to the barista. Your beverage will be returned the same way.
Toward a More Sustainable Cup
We will continue to innovate ways to make it easier for customers to choose more planet-friendly options while enjoying their Starbucks beverage.
For instance, in the U.S. and Canada:
- We’ve rolled out a more sustainable and accessible cold cup made with 10-20% less plastic.
- We redesigned our straws to be made with compostable material or paper.
- Our coffeehouses are moving away from lid stoppers in favor of recyclable lid stickers.
Toward a More Circular Economy
We’re collaborating with partners, customers, and community business leaders to identify impactful ways to reduce waste and accelerate reuse as a key component of the circular economy. This includes a $10 million investment in Circular Services to improve recycling infrastructure in the U.S.
While recycling might seem straightforward, it’s actually quite complex and challenging. Every city and jurisdiction has different rules, systems, and capabilities.
Starbucks recognizes we can only act on things that are in our control, so we work with hundreds of haulers nationwide to collect and recycle our cold cups, along with other recyclables, compost, and trash. We encourage you to look for signage and bins in your community coffeehouses to clearly identify recyclable items, sort your waste carefully, empty liquids into the trash, and separate lids and straws as instructed.
Understanding the challenges recyclables face in reaching the right destination, we have focused our efforts on innovative solutions like improved and reusable cups to make a more significant, lasting impact and keep more plastic out of waste streams altogether.
Commercially Compostable Cups and Lids
Due to local government requirements, a small number of Starbucks stores are transitioning to commercially compostable hot and cold cups. Our newest cups and lids help us meet these requirements, but we’re committed to sharing a better cup with our customers soon.