Miami-Dade Starbucks recycling investigation: Where do plastic cups end up?
MIAMI - America generates about 97 billion pounds of plastic waste every year – the most on the planet.
In the U.S., one of the biggest users of single-use plastic cups is Starbucks – 75% of its business is cold drinks, typically served in plastic cups. The coffee giant encourages customers to place those cups in its recycling bins, but a CBS News investigation raises questions about how many of those cups actually get recycled.
CBS News journalists across the country dropped cold drink cups — with trackers attached inside — into recycling bins at Starbucks locations. Some never generated a signal but 36 did. And CBS News tracked those cups until they stopped: 14 trackers last pinged at landfills. Another 13 went to waste transfer stations — places that don't recycle plastic -- compacting trash before sending it a landfill. And five ended up at incinerators or facilities that burn trash. Only four pinged at locations that accept recycling.
How does Miami-Dade County fare?
Christopher Cruz visits the Starbucks on 117th Avenue and Sunset Drive in Kendall at least four times a week. He always throws out his plastic cup in the proper recycle bin in the store, expecting it to go to a recycling facility. He was surprised when CBS News Miami told him that a tracker we dropped at the store ended up in the South Dade Landfill.
"Ooh, that's not good," Cruz said.
The South Dade Landfill first opened in 1979 and it does not accept recycling.
The cup that ended up in the landfill was one of seven cups with trackers CBS News Miami dropped at four standalone Starbucks locations in South Florida. All of them had bins that clearly marked where recyclable cups should go.
"It is kind of a little disappointing because us as the consumers we do our part to put it where it is supposed to go in the recycling section and everything after that is out of our hands," Cruz said.
CBS News Miami asked Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava about where the county does its recycling.
"We have a separate facility that we contract for where recycling takes place," she said.
But, county officials tell CBS News Miami that's for its 340,000 residences.
A county spokesperson says businesses outsource their waste and recycling collection services from private companies. Regardless of who hauls the trash away, county officials said all "commercial entities are required to establish a recycling program."
CBS News Miami had a hard time finding standalone Starbucks locations that do recycle.
In all, CBS News Miami visited 12 standalone stores. But only found found that display that they recycle. CBS News Miami contacted the waste hauler listed at the Starbucks where the tracker originated but did not hear back.
And with a focus on sustainability, the Miami-Dade County Commission voted to implement a limited ban on single-use plastics in county buildings.
CBS News Miami spoke to Starbucks Vice President for Product Innovation, Ameilia Landers about that ban, which would impact the Starbucks locations at Miami International Airport.
"There's a partnership between private and public that is really important," she said. "And so, we always adhere to local-level mandates and work together to educate on what is possible today an where we can go in the future and adhere to those mandates."
As for the small number of cups that made it to a recycling facility, Landers said that is unacceptable and disappointing, but there's only so much they can do. "Once it leaves our store, there are a number of elements that can come into play that don't guarantee that it ends up in the right place."
Starbucks said its goal is to cut waste in half by 2030 and make all of its customer-facing cups recyclable, reusable or compostable.
CBS News Miami asked Miami-Dade County several times for an on-camera interview for this story, and they did issue a statement and answer follow-up questions:
The Miami-Dade Department of Solid Waste Management (DSWM) provides waste collection and recycling collection services to more than 340,000 residential households throughout Miami-Dade County. Commercial enterprises primarily receive waste and recycling collection services from private waste haulers, not DSWM. That said, commercial entities are required to establish a recycling program at their establishment. This requirement allows some flexibility in the materials collected and in how they are collected (they can be collected by a commercial hauler or by the entity itself, and they can arrange for the sale of the materials collected).
DSWM disposal facilities (landfills and transfer stations) are available to commercial waste haulers and as such, they can bring any allowable type of material for disposal. As long as the materials brought for disposal are not prohibited at DSWM disposal facilities (such as medical waste, for example), DSWM does not generally prohibit a waste hauler from tipping at a DSWM disposal facility.