USA—Starbucks has announced six new solar energy projects in Illinois in partnership with Nexamp. These projects will provide electricity savings to more than 1,100 Illinois residents and purchase electricity for 170 area Starbucks stores.
Starbucks has announced multiple sustainability efforts this summer, part of the ramped-up efforts to combat climate change that CEO Laxman Narasimhan mentioned at the end of 2023.
First, Starbucks launched another returnable beverage cup pilot program in partnership with NextGen. Recently, the Seattle-based coffee chain announced a partnership with Mercedes-Benz to install 400 electric vehicle chargers at 100 Starbucks stores.
“Starbucks is committed to our environmental promise to give more than we take, and we have a long history of renewable energy projects that bring clean energy to more communities,” Michael Kobori, Starbucks chief sustainability officer, said in a statement.
“We’re proud to support Nexamp’s efforts to bring community solar into areas where it can have the most impact and make savings opportunities available to community members.”
By investing in the Nexamp solar projects, Starbucks will receive renewable electricity credits to power its stores. The project will provide more than 40 megawatts of solar energy in Illinois communities, building upon the 340 Illinois Starbucks stories powered by wind energy.
While sustainability goals have long been part of Starbucks’ corporate commitments, the company has recently increased its investments and even created a new environmental, partner, and community impact board committee to hold the board accountable for introducing as many green investments and changes as possible.
“If you look at what’s coming about the changes taking place and regulations, particularly on climate, if you look at the assessments that we’ve been doing internally, we felt it was appropriate to put a committee together that would oversee what we do in this entire space,” Narasimhan said in 2023.
The solar panel projects are currently under construction and are expected to be completed by 2025.
Recently, Starbucks joined more than 30 restaurant brands — including Dunkin’, Peet’s Coffee, Burger King, and Yum Brands — in a returnable beverage cup pilot program in partnership with NextGen Consortium in Petaluma, Calif.
The test, which starts Aug. 5 and ends Oct. 28, will allow customers to “borrow” a cup when they order a Starbucks beverage and then return it to one of 60 return bins across the city when they are finished.
Starbucks has been testing out reusable and returnable cups for years now: The company has long allowed customers to bring in their cups for a 10-cent discount, and while that policy was briefly discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic, it returned in 2021.
In 2020, Starbucks and McDonald’s partnered with NextGen Consortium to create 100% recyclable and compostable cups. The company also began testing reusable cup rental services in partnership with Go Box in 2021.
Then, in 2022, Starbucks stated that it wanted to move away from disposable containers and toward reusable cups by 2025 and was expanding the reusable cups program.
However, in 2023, Starbucks told NRN that there were hurdles in getting enough people to participate in the “bring your own” reusable cup program, although the company continued to try different ways to encourage customers to bring their own cups.
Earlier this year, Starbucks announced that customers will be able to bring their own personal cups for every ordering occasion (including drive-thru and mobile pickup orders) and that they would receive both a 10-cent discount and 25-star rewards as a thank you.
Eight Starbucks stores will participate in this pilot test of returnable cups (including six company-owned cafes and two licensed stores in Target and Safeway, owned by Albertson’s). The returnable cups will be purple and have the “Sip, Return Repeat” insignia printed on them.
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