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February Without Disposable Beverage Containers:
Interview with Team Leader (and Starbucks Barista) Sam Blackmar


Sparrowpost: How has your February experiment in not using disposable beverage containers gone?
Sam: It's been good but hard. I’ve had a hard time using the same beverage container over and over again because when I'm at work make myself lots of different kinds of drinks, which sometimes demands multiple containers. What I DID do was get my AP Bio teacher a new coffee machine that has a gold cone filter that never needsto be replaced, so it uses a lot less paper.
SP: What kind of drinks do make yourself?
Sam: Iced vanilla lattes. A lot of the Starbucks drinks are based on the standard sizes of Starbuck’s cups. That means making it in a non-Starbucks mug makes it hard to get the drink proportions right.
SP: So if you're going to make an iced drink for someone who comes into Starbucks and has their own mug, do you have to use a plastic cup to measure it all out?
Sam: No, I can make it in their cup. But it's a pain because you're not quite sure what size it is... .grande, venti, tall, whatever.
Oh yeah, we're going to try to get our milk cartons recycled... that's a program that exists in other franchises in San Diego, but which our Starbucks hasn't adopted yet.
SP: Does Starbucks have any sort of recycling program for plastic cups?
Sam: Not really. We did raise the bring-your-own-mug discount from 5 cents to 10 cents, which is nice. And if people bring in their used cup, they can get a 50 cent refill.
SP: Would that you say that you sell more beverages in paper or in plastic cups?
Sam: Definatelly depends on the weather of the day. Hot or cold.
Do you have any idea how much the plastic cups cost?
.3 cents each or something
SP: Are there any matters of ettiquite which you could recommend to reusable mug users when bring your own mug to their local Starbucks?
Sam: Know what size it is. It’s great if customers can tell me what size it is--that way I don't have to do any guesswork about the drink proportions.
SP: Would you consider doing a chalkboard where you would remind your customers that you have in house cups they can use instead of paper cups?
Sam: Yeah, if it were up to me, but chalkboard content is sort-of corporation managed stuff.
SP: Do you think if you wrote an email to The Corporation saying you were a barista and you wanted to make those chalkboards, that you would get any response?
Sam:Yeah, probably.
SP: That could be interesting.. Um, so what's all this about plastic bottle discount day?
Sam: It’s International Water Day. It's a day when a fraction of the drink sales go to impoverished and drought starved people in Africa. And 5 cents of every "Ethos" bottle you sell goes to starving children in Africa, all of which I think is sort-of a cheap ploy to sell water.
SP: You basically think that there are better ways to do your philanthropy?
Sam: Yeah...I was just thinking that you could give a lot more of than just five cents of your sales. If you're really going to do that, then you should REALLY do it. 5 cents is lip service.
SP: Is Ethos the Starbucks water brand?
Sam: Starbucks bought Ethos. Starbucks also owns Tazo and Seattle's Best Coffee.
SP: Do they sell Starbucks at your high school?
Sam: No, I wish. I make Starbucks coffee in the gold tone coffee machine at AP Bio.
SP: Heh Heh. That must help you absorb that AP Bio info even better.
Sam: Yeah, it's a sweet machine. It makes great coffee. We have toffee almond milk in the back and we add it to the coffee and it makes a great drink
         
Level 2 Team Leader sips his Frappucino out of a glass he brought from home.
 
 
 

ExConsumer Level 2: Level two members endeavor not to purchase or accept beverages which come in disposable containers. More specifically, level 2 ExConsumers avoid paper and styrofoam cups, and plastic bottles. (aluminum cans and glass bottles can be recycled at a gain, so those are okay so long as they end up in the recycling.) This means level two members avoid individually-sized plastic water bottles and that level 2 members who drink coffee either drink it in the store, or bring their own mug

Interested in signing up? Post a note and tell us about it on the Forum!
 

Why Beverage Containers?

Shown below are a few pictures from an informal survey of public trash cans conducted in San Diego this December. If there is one ubiquitous symbol of our “throw-away society,” it is beverage containers. Join at level 2 and begin your protest of throwaway culture.
  Also read our latest article on PET plastic bottles and the problem of finding convenient, safe drinking water without causing too much environmental harm >>  
     
   
     
 
 
 

Year Without Disposable Beverage Containers:
Month One Report by Team Leader Sam Blackmar

This month, I began working at Starbucks, and from my experience have witnessed the effectiveness of a resource saving instrument. Before it was introduced, blenders had to be filled with water, wasting almost a gallon per wash. The blender washer, is an attachment to the sink, which when pressured releases a powerfull jet of water that efficiently cleans the blender. I would guess that this invention saves 15 gallons of water a day, which in over 10,000 stores could add upto quite a bit of savings. That is the news in Ocean Beach.

 

Sam's Bio: (A Junior in High School, Sam Blackmar agreed to be the representative for Level 2 ExConsumers after some serious arm-twisting from his sister. Perhaps the main reason for his selection as team leader is his two-Frappuciono-a-day habit. Though he will occasionally bring a re-usable mug (or a glass, as pictured at left) when he rides his bike to the local Starbucks, he has succumbed more frequently to the ease of the Starbucks disposable Frappucino mug. As a non-driver, the challenge for Sam is keeping enough re-usable mugs in the right places so that he’ll have one when the Frapuccino impulse strikes.)