Anyone who knows me knows that I am not some left-wing, sky-is-falling, oh-my-god-global-warming-is-real, liberal tree-hugging hippie. I am far from it. FAR FAR AWAY.
Yet, if you do know me, you also know that I am SO type-A that I love efficiency. I don't like to waste. I'll use lemons to get juice out of them and then try to figure out what to do with the rinds. I love recycling everything in my house, so much so that my blue bin is pretty much full by the end of the week. Yet, mind you, it's not for the "environment". I just don't like wasting and I love efficiency. There's a difference.
There has been one thing I don't get. Starbucks. When you go there, there are coffees from around the world, and they like to project an image about global connection and how they work with foreign coffee growers to improve their lives. I've even heard them playing world music. Oh, aren't they great? Yea for Starbucks! Hip hip hooray!
My problem? THEY DON'T RECYCLE.
Starbucks serves like a billion drink a year, yet they can't offer recycling bins. I have yet to see a single recycling bin in a Starbucks. I can't stand it. How hard is it to put out a bin for the top and a bin for the cup??? You put out this "world" image, but how do we really know that you're helping poor coffee growers in South America and Africa? Actions speak louder than words, and since we don't see any real action, what does that mean about your words? SERIOUSLY...
I asked a "barista" from my local Starbucks. "Hey, how come you don't recycle or have recycling bins?" "Uh, I don't know. That's a good question. If you want, you can fill out one of the comment forms and send it in."
So, I took one of their pamphlets at my local Starbucks, asking for comments. I filled the thing in with a mini rant about recycling (of course prefacing it with the fact that I am not an environmental fanatic), and waited for a response. About six weeks later, I got the envelope. Look, I wasn't expecting a letter saying, "Oh my God, we didn't think of that!...Good for you!...Wow, you're so smart...", but I was disappointed and frustrated to get a form letter basically saying we got your comment, thanks for writing it down, and we'll pass it on to the appropriate people.
Yes, I do go to Starbucks. Will I go there ever again? Honestly, yes. But from now on, I plan to take my own mug. This has been bugging me for like a year. It nags at me. It may eventually make me not go there. But seriously, I just don't get it...
P.S. Paul wanted me to clarify that he did not write this. Thanks for the support, sweetheart.
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