Overview
- Beyond Plastics placed 53 Bluetooth trackers in Starbucks polypropylene cold cups and said on May 20, 2026 that 36 trackers returned usable movement data with none detected at an actual recycling plant.
- The group reported the tracked cups were last seen at landfills (16), incinerators (9), waste-transfer stations (8) or materials recovery facilities that sort but do not themselves recycle plastics (3).
- Beyond Plastics also found many Starbucks stores offered no in-store recycling or posted signage saying cups are collected for landfill, which the group says conflicts with the company's labeling.
- Starbucks questioned the study's methodology without detailed rebuttal, and industry groups warned the trackers themselves might have altered how items were handled during sorting and collection.
- Recycling experts and the report note U.S. plastics recycling is under 6% and few facilities take post-consumer polypropylene, which raises doubts that the firm's 'widely recyclable' designation will translate into real recycling and increases pressure to adopt reusable or fiber packaging.