Sir, – As an occasional customer of Starbucks, I’m frustrated by its policy of automatically giving customers a paper cup over a ceramic mug when sitting in. Recently in one of their cafes, I asked everyone sitting in (all of whom had paper cups) if they were given the option of a ceramic mug. Not one person had been.
This directly contradicts Starbucks policy (as received by me in an email from it following a complaint about this) that its customers have a choice when ordering coffee and ideally it wants them to use ceramic but it cannot enforce that.
This is incredibly wasteful in the context of a climate emergency, particularly considering that there are 49 outlets in the greater Dublin area alone.
Starbucks is in a unique position to take a public stand and action in this space that would have a huge ripple effect on other retailers and customer behaviour.
It would seem that a change in training in Starbucks with the addition of one simple question and the resulting actions by baristas would make all the difference. – Yours, etc,
SARA DENNEDY,
Dublin 3.