If you order cold coffee drinks from Starbucks, your next order may come in a new cup. Starbucks has announced that stores in specific states will no longer offer plastic cold cups for cold coffees. Instead, cold coffee orders will be served in cold compostable cups to reduce plastic waste.
Only about 580 cafe locations in California, Washington, Hawaii, Minnesota, Arizona, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland, Connecticut, Virginia, South Carolina, Colorado, and Georgia have started serving coffee in these new cups. However, the brand anticipates rolling these new sustainable coffee cups out to more stores throughout 2025.
Per Starbucks, “We’ve set an ambitious goal for our cups to be 100% compostable, recyclable, or reusable; sourced from 50% recycled materials; and made using 50% less virgin fossil fuel-derived sources by 2030. In the U.S. and Canada, we’re rolling out a more sustainable and accessible cold cup made with 10-20% less plastic—just one way we’re driving single-use packaging innovation.”
The new cups, made from molded fiber, have flat or dome-shaped lids and can hold regular iced coffee and even whipped frappuccinos. While many Starbucks fans are happy to see the brand moving towards sustainable coffee cups, many are unhappy with the changes in the cups.
Not only do the new cups take away the ability to see through to the drink before drinking it, but they also take away the “aesthetically pleasing” aspect of many layered coffee drinks. Fans have noted that they hope Starbucks can come up with an alternative to these “less exciting” cups that still offer an alternative to plastic cups.
