Starbucks Recycling? ...

I just bought some coffee beans at my local Albertson's and got all excited at first thinking that Starbucks was finally going green with their coffee bean bags because they had an offer for a free tall if you return the used bag to them, BUT no, they are just doing some smart (albeit sneaky) marketing.

So here's the deal. If you buy the 12oz bag of coffee at a grocery store there's a code printed on the bag for processing a free tall, the code is rung up at the register as "514". The SM's (store managers) tell the employees that when a customer redeems the bag, they can just throw it away because they don't have time to bother with recycling the bags.

The truth is there is no recycling going on. The airtight plastic/metallic bags that coffee is often packaged in is very carbon-intensive and not recyclealbe and will last up to 500 years in a landfill. The plastic comes from petrochemicals, and the metallic components are often aluminum, one of the most energy intensive metals.

I remain hopeful that Sbux will do the right thing and hire a company to develop more sustainable packaging for their product. But until that day, I'm going to continue to make purses, wallets and such out of them to save them from being in a landfill and contaminating the planet.

The reason I think it's smart marketing is because if you buy a bag of coffee from anywhere BUT the grocery store (such as at a Sbux store, you CANNOT bring it back for a free tall coffee). There is no code on those bags. The idea is to get you to buy Sbux coffee over the other bags that are sitting on the grocery shelf. Smart marketing with faux green-ness.

And in case your wondering, here's a peek at what I make with the used coffee bags. In this shot I have a purse, a few women's clutches, a guy's wallet, a checkbook cover and an eyeglass case. If you want to buy something just stop by the next Handmade Revolution Show on April 24th, more details here.



So all that to say, this particular bag is not going back to them to put in the trash. Even though it has the code I'm turning it into a wallet where it will have many years of usefulness. So if you come across one of these bags, don't take it to Sbux to put in the trash. Maybe you can mail it to me and next time you're in San Diego, stop by and I'll make you a free cup of coffee =)