Starbucks has a “Commitment to Being a Deeply Responsible Company.” And its mission statement includes “Instilling environmental responsibility as a corporate value.” These things are right on the coffee company’s website, so they must be true. If you don’t believe me, try the Starbucks Planet Green” game (with extra smug).
Now along comes The Sun (that ne’er-do-well British tabloid) to burst our frothy bubble:
STARBUCKS was blasted by environmental experts last night after The Sun discovered it pours millions of litres of precious water down the drain at its coffee shops.
The giant coffee chain has a policy of keeping a tap running non-stop at all its 10,000 outlets worldwide, wasting 23.4 MILLION litres a day.
That would provide enough daily water for the entire two million-strong population of drought-hit Namibia in Africa or fill an Olympic pool every 83 minutes.
Every Starbucks branch has a cold tap behind the counter providing water for a sink called a “dipper well”, used for washing spoons and utensils.
Staff are banned from turning the water off under bizarre health and safety rules — bosses claim a constant flow stops germs breeding in the taps …
[W]ater companies accused the firm of HARMING the environment by frittering away a vital natural resource.
And the claim that running taps are needed for hygiene reasons was dismissed by experts as “nonsense”.
Kinda makes me wonder why we all got saddled with those “low-flow” toilets. We’d save more water switching to Caribou, Tim Horton’s, Costa, or Caffé Nero.
Update: The Daily Mail is also reporting this, so at least it’s not just The Sun …
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I’ve already commented on The Sun sight but come on here! If Starbucks pays their utility bill for the water they can do whatever they bloody well want with it! Are the enviro-police following people to make sure they finish their double-vanilla machiatta? The water Starbucks could save by keeping the tap off doesn’t get sent to African villages.
Know what else prevents bacteria buildup? SOAP! Jesus, it’s been almost 50 years and the hippies still haven’t figured out what it’s for. Like an ape with super-computer!
Oh, and as someone who lived in Minneapolis for a couple years, I would just like to affirm that Caribou coffee kicks the living hell out of Starbucks.
For the record, I HATE low flow toilets and find them more wasteful when you have to flush four times…
But, back to Starbuck’s. It’s no shock really, that they aren’t as green as they pretend to be. I think that’s the real green trend. It seems that everyone pretends to be green so that they can be smug and preach.
But doesn’t certain parts of California make it a law to not waste water??
I wonder if they do that here is Australia? We’ve got massive water shortages, and most places are on water restrictions. It must cost them heaps to do that and have such a big water bill… Maybe the stuff they waste in America or wherever doesn’t get sent to drought ridden places, but what about wasting water here, where there’s been a decade long drought? I can sure think of better uses to put it to… I can’t say I’ve ever been to a Starbucks, I live in a rural area and there isn’t one in town, But I don’t think I’ll ever go to one now either, I’m not helping pay for them to take water away from our sheep which are dying in paddocks…
“The water Starbucks could save by keeping the tap off doesn’t get sent to African villages”
This is what went through my little mind when I read this…
If they paid hydro offsets and then would it be okay? I am starting a new company for my invention, it is a device that creates water out of thin air, can transport it to remote areas of the world and then slowly pour the water over large regions….we are thinking of calling it CLOUDS!
Yet another reason to drink some Dunkin’ Donuts coffee.
“I think it is fair to say that Starbucks have a good environmental record, as far as we understand it, and so we are mystified by this story,” Barrie Clarke, of Water UK, told PA. (this is from the BBC) Which makes it sound like they do ok most of the time. The article goes on to state that they are looking into alternatives.
I go back and forth on Starbucks. Yes, they are a corporate monolith that drives other, small, better coffee vendors out of business (at least here in the Seattle). However, they are supposed to be a good company to work for with good benefits and they treat their employees fairly. They promote from within so someone could start as a barista and work their way up to a director position (as a friend did). If they were to completely go out of business, that would be a huge problem for this region.
not to rain on the hypocrite parade, but you do know this is a fairly standard practice anywhere where utensils are reused right? i think in some places (e.g. the dessert area at my university cafeteria) it may actually be required by local health codes…
Ah, the city of Romania. Far be it for them to be geographically semi-literate and use the city name!
Ice cream parlors have similar drip faucets. They clean off the scoopers and spades in-between flavors. The water also lubricates the scooper, necessary to making pretty ice cream cones.
For a standard 12 flavor freezer display cabinet, there are usually 2 drip faucet buckets for easy reach of the employee. The parlor I worked at years ago had 5 drip faucets, all constantly running during operational hours.
I don’t have a Ben & Jerry’s in my area, but I’d be curious to see how they handle being Earth Warriors while keeping their scoops tidy.
I’m sure we’d all rather get diseases from the coffee instead. As the first commenter pointed out, it’s not as though the spare water would be used for thirsty Africans instead.
Minnow is right - I work at a family entertainment center, and we have two drip faucets for just that purpose.
But then, we’re not claiming to be “instilling environmental responsibility as a corporate value”. And we don’t look at you like you’re insane if you ask for a plain cup of black coffee.
this is also the case at panera. i used to work there, and we could only turn it off after we had closed. but there isn’t enough water running to waste -that- much.
Strawberry Girl - If you read the entire thing, it said that the prevention of disease is nonsense. If it were true, you would be asked to do the same thing at home. Tap water has been treated to prevent the growth of microorganisms or else you would be hearing about water-born outbreaks every single day. Oh, and microorganisms can grow in running water. Ever see green algae growing in a running stream? So the the health issue is totally bogus.
I always doubted the anti-bacterial theory of drip faucets.
First at the ice cream parlor I worked at, it was cold water. Not hot, cold. No soap, no bleach.
Secondly, the way they are designed, the water level has to reach the top part of the basin before it drains, and then it only drains the upper most surface level of the water. Melted ice cream is heavier than water, so the bottom of the basins were always nasty and cloudy, full of stray nuts and chocolate chips. We were supposed to pull the plug every so often to clear out the debris, but on a busy day… well, you really don’t want to know.
What does Starbuck’s use their drip faucets for exactly? Spoons are easily washed at a sink, but you have to invest in a large stock of them, and pay a barrista to do dishes occasionally. Might be below their pay grade.
Everyone who wants to write this off are just repeating the same two points - both of which are bogus.
1. The health threat is BS. If it was true, the health department would make this SOP for every restaurant in America. As someone who waited tables (and started off washing dishes) all through high school, I can tell you that’s just not the case.
2. “Other places do it too!” Yeah, but do those other places go out of their way to act like they give a damn about the Earth? Starbucks is hypocritical because they’re wasting water while boasting of their conservation measures (ie. using recycled goods) in BIG BOLD LETTERS THAT EVERYONE CAN SEE BECAUSE THEY’RE BETTER THAN YOU.
Oh, and Queen Bee, can you please explain to me how treating their employees well matters at all in this respect? I suppose a company that disposes of toxic waste by feeding it to newborn kittens would be alright as long as they were union and had a good 401K? Granted, I’m exaggerating for effect, but you get the point.
Tim Horton’s also reuses heir stirring spoons but they keep them in steel milkshake containers with water and ice, and make sure to change the water out as often as possible. If the health inspector isn’t concerned over that, then Starbucks doesn’t have much to base their claims on. However, I have worked in two places that served ice cream, and a condition of licencing was that a drip well was kept running during all business hours. Now I wonder why?
Personally, I like Caribou better anyways.
I would hope we can all agree that Starbucks doesn’t poison kittens or howl with laughter just thinking about defrauding Grandma Millie. So, this is a company that the environmental overlords are usually pretty pleased with. Today, they are scratching their heads saying, “But they were normally so good to us……..” I think there is an interpretation at work here. When companies or people say they are “green” they are expected to be 100% perfect right now and there is no possibility that there can be room for improvement. According to Starbucks, they are going to change this policy. Would they have changed if they hadn’t been busted? We don’t know but it’s cool if they do change.
As for busting me for going slightly off topic, I am guilty as charged. That makes me the only one who has ever gone off topic on any website. Bad commenter.
Speaking of Starbucks and deceivers:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/05/palin-misquotes-albright_n_131967.html
Queen Bee -
“I would hope we can all agree that Starbucks doesn’t poison kittens or howl with laughter just thinking about defrauding Grandma Millie.” - I disagree, I think they do and they deliberately waste water to create a water shortage so that the unwashed masses won’t mind paying $5 for a cup of coffee since a cup of water will be $6 due to the water shortage they are creating.
“That makes me the only one who has ever gone off topic on any website.” - Correct!
Kim, that is a bombshell.
Well Kim, I suppose that means you’re safe from Hell now, given how you’ve helped Palin with her misquote and all…
You know what is funny? There seems to be nothing in place in the states for long-term water conservation. It’s like your government is too busy starting wars to take care of it’s people. Of course you want others to pick up the slack. Manly Canada. Your government has been after our fresh water for years. They lovely excuse made by Paul Cellucci:
“Canada has probably one of the largest resources of fresh water in the world,” the former U.S. ambassador said during a debate on Canada-U.S. relations.
“Water is going to be - already is - a very valuable commodity and I’ve always found it odd where Canada is so willing to sell oil and natural gas and uranium and coal, which are by their very nature finite. But talking about water is off the table, and water is renewable.
“It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
See, if water is renewable in Canada, it should also be in the states. Your government should be working hard to curb pollution into your water supply and to find better ways to renew water. This is a major problem for your country and many people don’t seem to see that. In this case education and a few minor personal adjustments (not leaving the tap running when you brush your teeth, really there is NO reason to do that other than being super lazy) can make a huge difference in your water supply.
That is funny. You must be a big hit at parties.
BlueGold: Not sure what you’re reading, but in Michigan we’ve had a hell of a lot of legislation recently over both distribution and maintenance of our fresh water supply. Same goes for the other Great Lakes States, both on their own and in conjunction with neighboring states.
Same holds true for states serviced by the Mississippi and the Colorado Rivers.
Same for California which is also looking at cheaper de-salination technology.
And that’s just blurbs I’ve read in the newspaper. If you and I actually took the time to research it, we’d most likely find water protection legislation in place in all 50 states.
And we’ve done it while starting lot’sa wars. Huh. Guns and Butter. Cool.
BlueGold - I will make the assumption that you have never been to Colorado, California, Nevada, Arizona or New Mexico. All those states have water plans and San Diego California is fast tracking a desalination plant (California’s second I believe)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20080806-2108-bn06desal.html
A priest, a rabbi, and a midget walk into a bar. The midget says…
…”You know what is funny? There seems to be nothing in place in the states for long-term water conservation!”
You’re right! That is funny! I guess it’s gotta be in the right context.
If your country has such good hold on it’s water problem, why is your government begging Canada to export it’s water to you when we have our own water problems?
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060101/export_water_060101/20060101?hub=Canada
Minnow&D—
Yes your government has RECENTLY started doing something about your water crisis. In reality they should have done something about it years ago. You know, before it became a crisis. And as you may have water protection in place, it has come very late and is not as strong as it should be. Believe it or not, in this area, the states has much room for improvement.
Simon&Pastafarian
I’m sorry if you think there is only one meaning to the word funny. Very, very sorry.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/funny
No need to apologize. You qualify for more than one.
Yeah Blue - we haven’t had ANY water legislation in the US until recently!
It’s not like they pissed off most of the country by making it impossible to buy anything but low-flow toilets decades ago. It’s not like we’ve got one of the most efficient water purification and reclamation systems in the world (little hint, you might ask those Canadian engineers who’s system they modeled theirs after).
Before you go ripping into the U.S., take a minute to engage the logic centers of your brain. We are the 3rd largest nation in land area in the world, after Russia and Canada. We are third in population after China and India. There are 300 million people in the U.S., Canada has 33,394,000. So your country is bigger than ours, and you have 1/10th the people. There are nearly as many people in the state of California alone.
You have massive fresh water lakes, pure glaciers, and tons of fresh water rivers. We have no glaciers outside of Alaska. Also, many of our water-rich states are required to subsidize states that are largely inhospitable desert. You think they produce much water in Arizona, Utah, Texas, New Mexico, ect.? Canada doesn’t have that problem.
Moral of all this? We provide far more people with water with fewer resources. I’d call that efficiency, not gluttony.
I’m sorry, I was wrong! There are MORE people in the state of California than in the entire nation of Canada.
Pop of California: 36,553,215
Pop of Canada: 33,394,000
Kinda amazing we manage to get water to all those people isn’t it?
We should let California, and Canada fight it out. Of course you’d have to count out the FRENCH Canadians.
Sorry. I didn’t have enough time.
Pasta: They can’t fight it out, Canucks are pacifists.
Too bad we’re knee deep in massive bloodshed and war-mongering, or we could invade Canada.
For their wisdom and water.
We could still invade Canada. It’s Canada.
They are purposing this idea here in New Zealand. Its such a waste of water when so many countries in the world don’t have access to fresh water.