Starbucks and other coffee chains have recently announced that their single-use plastic cups are now accepted in curbside recycling programs, thanks to a 60% access rate claimed by industry groups like TRP and GreenBlue. However, critics argue this claim only measures how many people can put the cups in their bins, not whether they will actually be recycled.
The reality is that there's little market for low-value plastics like polypropylene cups due to high processing costs. As a result, waste haulers might collect these cups simply to meet the 60% threshold but then send them directly to landfills or incinerators.
In states like Oregon and potentially Washington and California, laws are being enacted that exclude single-use plastic cups from curbside recycling programs due to lack of responsible end markets. These policies aim to address environmental impacts and social issues associated with improper disposal of such materials.
Industry groups maintain that recyclability labels educate consumers and increase material recovery rates, but this approach may violate consumer protection laws in some states if there's no evidence of actual recycling occurring at the required rate.
Read the full article at Grist
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