By Michael Ko/Photos by Joshua Trujillo

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As Starbucks turns 50, Michelle Burns, who leads coffee at Starbucks, and her team are working to ensure the best outcomes for coffee farmers and the land it’s grown on.

Michelle Burns remembers vividly the trip she took to Colombia in 2018. As the sun broke through the clouds, she trekked into a rugged mountain region in Caldas, one of the country’s main coffee-producing regions – a two-and-a-half-hour ascent up through steep terrain, then down into a valley. There, she and her group were greeted by about 15 local farmers, mostly young people who’d returned home and recently started coffee farming after decades of armed conflicts in the area had subsided.

“They shared their stories with us,” recalls Burns, now Starbucks&nbsp;<a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/leadership/michelle-burns/">executive vice president of Global Coffee, Tea and Cocoa</a>, “stories about conflict and all the challenges that happened in Colombia, stories of moving away after losing family members who were in coffee farming.

“They’d come back to reclaim that land. And we asked them, ‘What can we do to help?’”

The moment – and her subsequent takeaway: “the incredible possibility to positively impact the lives and support the next generation of farmers” – led to the Starbucks Colombia Initiative, called “Granos de Esperanza” (grains of hope), a kind of real-time agricultural and economic innovation lab.

Today, 100 local farmers in Nariño, Colombia are learning the latest climate education, soil and fertilizer analysis techniques and coffee cultivation and business practices. They’re applying innovations gained at Hacienda Alsacia, the Starbucks research farm in Costa Rica. And they’re incorporating new technologies like eco-pulpers that use less water in the coffee-production process.

The moment also widened Burns’ perspective on the bean-to-cup journey and drove home the importance and urgency of making sure that Starbucks is committed to doing the work and making the investments to ensure a sustainable future of coffee for all, especially for those who grow it and the land they work on. &nbsp;

To that end, Starbucks has opened&nbsp;<a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2021/starbucks-opens-farmer-support-center-in-brazil-for-coffee-growing/">10 coffee farmer support centers</a>&nbsp;around the globe, the latest in Brazil; committed to provide 100 million healthy coffee trees to coffee farmers by 2025; provided access to low-interest loans to coffee farmers in regions where traditional banks are not an option; and piloted programs in Guatemala to help coffee-farming families diversify their income streams.

A commitment to take less and give more to the planet

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Starbucks has also&nbsp;<a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2021/starbucks-announces-coffee-specific-environmental-goals/#:~:text=In%202020%20Starbucks%20committed%20to,50%25%2C%20both%20by%202030." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">set goals</a>&nbsp;to achieve carbon-neutral green coffee and conserve water usage in green coffee processing by 50 percent, both by 2030.

“That is bold,” Burns says. “The effort that needs to happen on methodology and technology and bringing all the pieces together, it’s somewhat uncharted territory. We’re very ambitiously out there, not yet having all the answers, but trying to find the solutions.”

Specifically, Starbucks is focusing on reducing its carbon and water footprints at “the first ten feet” – starting on the farms – and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by equipping farmers with precision agronomy tools, promoting and distributing climate-resistant tree varietals and protecting and restoring at-risk forests in key coffee landscapes.

As part of its water conservation strategy, Starbucks is investing in ecological wet mills that can save up to 80 percent of water in coffee processing. To date, Starbucks has helped install 12,000 such new mills around the world.

“You think about the magnitude of water scarcity around the globe. Are there potential ways to innovate and identify and use equipment that is better for the environment? There are over 200,000 wet mills currently in our supply chain. We’ve only scratched the surface on scaling this technology.

“I am seeing the possibilities, and I get excited about the overall positive impact we can have. I feel the best knowing we’ll never hold this as our own. We’re working with others in the industry, so this work is in service to the entire coffee sector – and hopefully beyond, into the broader agricultural industry – because we’re committed to build on open sources of sharing.”

Burns still has the large handmade red ceramic mug that a fellow partner (employee) gifted her 26 years ago, her first at Starbucks. When it’s cradled in her hands, she feels familiarity and friendship, comfort and warmth. Like so many others who have a coffee ritual, this mug is part of hers.

These days, when she drinks coffee out of this mug, she’s reminded of the need to slow down and savor the moment.

For 50 years, coffee has been the core of Starbucks, and Burns always comes back to that, especially as a highly visible leader during intensely complex times – a climate crisis, crop diseases like coffee rust, a highly charged political landscape, an aging farmer population, supply chain disruptions due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, labor and staffing shortages.

“It is important to stay true to the heart and the mission of our company, and the love for coffee, and your experience with it.

“I believe that by honoring our heritage, staying true to where and why we started as a company – strongly rooted in our mission and values, with an aspiration to make sure that in the end, we’re giving more than we’re taking – then we can really go after the biggest, boldest aspirations.”

That thinking led Starbucks to develop one of the coffee industry’s first ethical sourcing standards,&nbsp;<a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/cafe-practices-starbucks-approach-to-ethically-sourcing-coffee/">Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices</a>, a verification program that allows Starbucks to ensure it gets high-quality, ethically sourced coffee while also gaining insights into the challenges faced by farmers and supply chain operations in the more than 30 different coffee-producing countries around the world – and then to share that knowledge back.

C.A.F.E. Practices measures more than 200 criteria – as scored by an independent third-party auditor – in the categories of economic transparency, environmental leadership, social responsibility and quality. Starbucks pays premiums above commercial market price to help ensure coffee farmer profitability, and also financially rewards supply chains that reach the highest performance levels.

That commitment to stay rooted in Starbucks mission and values continues to drive Burns in her work – especially as a woman leading in the coffee industry – whether it’s planet-first initiatives, farmer support or increasing awareness among customers of the entire coffee-making process.

“You just think about the magnitude,” Burns says. “How many hands actually touch the coffee along the way, how many miles are there from a field to one of our stores? It’s incredible… That has to be integrated into all the ways we work, think and act. We work in support of 400,000 farmers, just like we work in support of 400,000 partners.”

Given that Starbucks buys about 800 million pounds of coffee every year, or about 5 percent of the world’s coffee, Burns says, “the potential to positively impact the lives and livelihoods of farmers and their communities is tremendous.

“People have watched us working hard to do the right things, find solutions and take great care of farmers and their communities, for decades. They grant us an amount of trust and opportunity to help lead the discussion around ensuring a sustainable future of coffee for all. That is a privilege as well as a responsibility, but it’s so important that we follow through. “When I think about that challenge, and I look at what is required, and the journey ahead, my sense is, we must. We must be brave, and we must lead, and set out aspirations that are bold to take the path that can create a better future for those that grow coffee and their families, and to ensure that the beauty and art and ritual that’s coffee remains in all of our cultures, for decades and decades to come.”

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As Starbucks turns 50, Michelle Burns, who leads coffee at Starbucks, and her team are working to ensure the best outcomes for coffee farmers and the land it’s grown on.

Working to create a more sustainable future of coffee for all - Historias-en

Historias-en

Working to create a more sustainable future of coffee for all

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This Earth Day, Starbucks will also promote reusability by offering free coffee to clients who buy the selected model of reusable cups.

Sao Paulo – Starbucks Brazil today announced the roll-out of a new cup recycling initiative through the Circular Economy Project “Ciclobom” – developed by BO Packaging with the support of paperboard producer Ibema and intelligent reverse logistics startup Green Mining – to give single-use cups a second life by turning them into cup sleeves for hot beverages. As part of Starbucks global goal to reduce waste sent to landfill from stores and manufacturing by 50% by 2030, the company remains committed to developing innovative sustainability initiatives, driven by a broader shift toward a circular economy.

The initiative marks a milestone in Starbucks journey to become a resource-positive company, aspiring to protect the planet’s future and working together with customers, store partners and like-minded organizations to promote sustainability initiatives.

“Starbucks in Brazil is constantly developing new initiatives to be locally sustainable and to create consciousness around issues for the planet. Cup recycling is connected to our goals on making a positive impact on the neighborhoods that host our stores and encouraging the circular economy of paper cups in our market,” said Sandra Collier, Marketing, Loyalty, and Social Responsibility Director of SouthRock, Starbucks licensed retail operator in Brazil.

First launched in 2021 as a pilot program at three Starbucks stores in São Paulo, the Ciclobom Project recycles the brand’s iconic white paper cups and gives them a second life by turning them into cup sleeves. After only eleven months, the project has collected and recycled more than 80,000 cups. Now Ciclobom is available at nine stores in São Paulo, with the intention to expand to 60 stores across Brazil by the end of the year.

From single-use paper cups to cup sleeves

Starbucks Brazil customers can support the Ciclobom Project by disposing their single-use paper cups at designated collection bins installed at select stores. Green Mining then collects the cups and sends them to be processed by Ibema through a system that uses low water resources to separate the plastic layer from the paper. The plastic is sent for recycling while the paper fibers are turned into 30% post-consumer recycled paperboard to become, in the future, a new Starbucks cup sleeve for hot beverages.

Sustainability at Starbucks

Efforts to reduce single-use cup waste are not new to Starbucks. And now creating more options for people to enjoy their beverages – generally promoting reusability – is a key part of Starbucks ongoing global commitment to reduce waste sent to landfill from stores and manufacturing by 50% by 2030, building on Starbucks Global Greener Cup timeline, with the company’s recent milestones.

The company’s goal by 2025 is to create a cultural movement towards waste reduction by providing customers easy access to reusable cups, making it more convenient for customers to enjoy their Starbucks Experience with their personal cups and for-here-ware. Globally, multiple programs and operating models are being tested with this goal in mind, such as Borrow A Cup, in which customers order their drink in a designated Starbucks returnable cup; 100% Reusable Operating Models, which considers single-use cups to be eliminated entirely, in favor of reusables, personal cups or for-here-ware; and Personal Cups &amp; For-Here-Ware, to encourage customers to bring their own cups and emphasize Starbucks-provided for-here-ware as the default sit-and-stay experience.

In Brazil, for customers who want to sit, stay, and enjoy the physical café experience at Starbucks, store partners can already offer the option of for-here-ware as a more planet conscious sit-and-stay experience. Also, during Earth Day in Brazil (Apr 22), clients buying the selected model of reusable cup at any Starbucks store in the country will earn a filtered coffee for free.

Starbucks and SouthRock, the company’s licensed retail operator in Brazil, continue evaluating further initiatives that will help reach the company’s global sustainability goals.

Find a Ciclobom collection bin

Ciclobom Circular Economy Project is current available at the following Starbucks stores, in Sao Paulo:

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Follow Starbucks Brazil at <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/starbucks-brasil-comã©rcio-de-cafã©s-ltda-/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/starbucksbrasil/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/StarbucksBrasil/">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/StarbucksBrasil">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/StarbucksBrasil">YouTube</a>.

Since entering Brazil in 2006, Starbucks has grown to more than 160 stores in seven markets: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District.

The licensee operator of Starbucks in Brazil, SouthRock was founded in 2015 with the objective of managing and operating a qualified and multi-brand foodservice portfolio in the Brazilian market. It started operating in 2017 at Guarulhos International Airport managing B.A.R. (Brazil Airport Restaurants), which operates exclusively in the most important airports in Brazil bringing a diversity of brands to consumers, travelers, and tourists. In 2018, the company signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Starbucks and TGI Fridays in Brazil, being granted with right to operate these brands nationwide (model used globally by these brands). The company's expansion process was amplified in 2019, when Starbucks stores were inaugurated in Santa Catarina, the first market outside São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. During that same year, SouthRock Lab, a digital branch also started aiming to develop technologies to improve physical x digital experiences and interactions between customers and brands. SouthRock is committed to constantly expanding its business in order to reach more people and more communities with its brands, offering great services, sharing values and positively impacting society, always putting customers and employees first alongside its brands.

Starbucks Brazil launches single-use cup recycling initiative - Historias-en

Starbucks Brazil launches single-use cup recycling initiative

This Earth Day, Starbucks will also promote reusability by offering free coffee to clients who buy the selected model of reusable cups. Sao Paulo – Starbucks Brazil today announced the roll-out of a new cup recycling initiative through the Circular Economy Project “Ciclobom” – developed by BO Packaging with the support of paperboard producer Ibema […]

https://stories.starbucks.com/uploads/sites/34/2022/04/Brazil-Single-use-Cup-Recycling.jpg

https://historias.starbucks.com/en-es/press/2022/starbucks-brazil-launches-single-use-cup-recycling-initiative/

Santiago, Chile – Customers visiting Starbucks stores in Chile can save on their orders this Earth Day by embracing more sustainable choices. Today, Starbucks Chile announces a series of promotions to reinforce the company’s aspiration to becoming a resource positive company starting with its bold goals to reduce waste sent to landfills from stores and direct operations and reducing carbon emissions by half by 2030.

Starting April 22, customers will receive a $500 pesos discount, an $200 pesos increase on what is currently offered, when ordering any drink and bringing their own reusable cup at every store in Chile. Around the world, Starbucks is shifting away from single-use plastics, promoting reusability and championing the use of recycled content, driven by a broader shift towards a circular economy. 

Additionally, to mark the installation of Starbucks Chile’s first electric vehicle charger at the Prince of Wales store in Santiago on April 20 customers who arrive in an electric vehicle when visiting any drive-thru store in Chile will also receive a 20% discount on their beverages.

“We are proud to install our first electric charger in the parking lot of one of our busiest stores,” said Soledad Fantuzzi, Marketing Manager at Starbucks South Cone. “We want to continue encouraging our customers with infrastructure to promote the use of more sustainable means of transportation, such as electric vehicles.”

In addition, Starbucks continues to expand its plant-based menu in the market by offering more food and beverage alternatives, including new oatmeal milk and two sandwiches: Irresistible Panini and Irresistible American Breakfast, two new plant-based options.

Furthermore, since 2021, Starbucks Chile has partnered with GoodMeal, a local technology company that seeks to reduce food waste, CO2 emissions, and prevent food from going to waste. To date, more than 115 Starbucks Chile stores are featured on the GoodMeal app and since January 2022, both companies have worked together to save more than 15 tons of CO2 emissions by rescuing food from going to waste.

“With these Earth Day initiatives and as we look ahead, we feel a heightened sense of urgency and conviction that we must challenge ourselves, think bigger, and do more in collaboration with our partners (employees) and customers to take care of the planet we share,” added Fantuzzi.

Starbucks Chile celebrates Earth Day with discounts to promote reusables and more sustainable options - Historias-en

Starbucks Chile celebrates Earth Day with discounts to promote reusables and more sustainable options

On April 22, Starbucks Chile will increase its discount on all beverages for customers who bring their own reusable cups. The brand will also give a 20% discount to customers who ask for their drink going through the drive-thru stores driving electric vehicles. Santiago, Chile – Customers visiting Starbucks stores in Chile can save on […]

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https://historias.starbucks.com/en-es/press/2022/starbucks-chile-celebrates-earth-day-with-discounts-to-promote-reusables-and-more-sustainable-options/

Mexico City - As it celebrates its 20th anniversary of retail operations in the market, Starbucks Mexico observes Earth Day this year through initiatives reinforcing the brand’s commitment to becoming a resource positive company in service of its 2030 goal to reduce waste sent to landfills by gradually switching from single-use packaging to reusable items in stores.

On April 22, when ordering a hot or cold Grande-size beverage in participating stores, customers will be gifted a limited-edition reusable cup made with 50% recycled content. The promotion will be valid while supplies last.

Aligned with the brand’s commitment to offering a variety of choices as part of the Starbucks Experience, on April 18 and 19, customers will be able to customize their favorite beverages with dairy alternative options —soy, coconut, almond, and oat—free of charge.

In addition, Starbucks Mexico will maintain its 8-pesos discount on the beverage of choice of customers bringing their personal tumblers or reusable cups, as the company aims to reward customers joining the brand in caring for the environment and preventing single-use waste pollution.

Close to 20 years of caring for the planet together

Since Starbucks arrived in Mexico in 2002, the brand has focused on connecting customers with partners (employees) and communities around a cup of coffee and creating a positive impact where the company has a presence.

In 2006, Starbucks Mexico introduced an innovative way to enjoy a cup of coffee by offering a soy beverage. In 2015, it expanded its plant-based beverage offering by introducing a coconut beverage, followed by an almond beverage in 2017. In 2021, it added an oat beverage to its menu, now available across all stores in Mexico.

In addition to expanding and diversifying its plant-based beverage menu options, Starbucks Mexico, through the “Grounds for your Garden” program, has sought to give a second life to the stores’ ground coffee waste, which is packed in reused bags and given to customers free of charge as a compost additive for their plants or gardens.

Earlier this year, with the support of Fundación Alsea A.C., Starbucks Mexico announced the launch of the program <a href="https://historias.starbucks.com/en-es/press/2022/starbucks-mexico-launches-new-initiative-to-fight-hunger-and-reduce-food-waste/">Donde Come Uno, Comen Dos</a> to reduce food waste. To ensure that unsold products are not wasted, participating stores in the country offer select products at half price several hours before closing. In addition, the company is committed to donating the proceeds from the sales of these products to Bancos de Alimentos de México (BAMX), a network of 55 food banks working to close the food gap by providing nutritious meals to thousands of families in Mexico.

Starbucks is committed to being a resource positive company and will continue to test and learn and scale programs that work to help drive sustainable customer choices.

Starbucks Mexico celebrates Earth Day with reusable cups made from 50% recycled content - Historias-en

Starbucks Mexico celebrates Earth Day with reusable cups made from 50% recycled content

On April 22, when buying a Grande hot or cold beverage, customers will be gifted a limited-edition reusable cup made with 50% recycled content. On April 18 and 19, customers will be able to customize their favorite beverages with dairy alternative options for free. Starbucks Mexico offers an 8-pesos discount on beverages served in personal […]

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https://historias.starbucks.com/en-es/press/2022/starbucks-mexico-celebrates-earth-day-with-reusable-cups-made-from-50-recycled-content/

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, take a virtual field trip to Costa Rica to meet some of the agronomists and farmers working to address the effects of climate change, disease and diminishing natural resources on coffee farming. They want to ensure your coffee cup – all of our cups – stays full well into the future.

Most coffee drinkers will tell you that coffee, especially in uncertain times, is more than a beverage.

A cup of coffee can represent comfort, stability, a respite – a taste of normality, especially in a world that currently feels anything but. It represents much the same to the people who grow coffee.

“I have coffee for breakfast, at noon, at 2 p.m., and at night I have another cup. It’s like one of my daily meals,” said Ana Mendez, laughing. She and her husband farm coffee on several small plots in Costa Rica.

She said she often thinks of the people around the world drinking the coffee they grow.

“I would want to tell them behind every cup of coffee there is sacrifice, there is work, there is hope, and there is love,” Mendez said. “There is so much love.”

Yet coffee is at a bit of a crossroads. There are more coffee drinkers in the world than ever before, but each year, climate change, disease and diminishing natural resources can make the business of coffee farming more and more difficult. In 2013, Starbucks purchased a coffee farm in Costa Rica called Hacienda Alsacia to better understand these challenges, and to look for solutions. Since then, the farm has become a global hub of research and discovery – discoveries the team there hopes will help coffee farmers all over the planet and the ongoing challenges they face.

In celebration of an unusual Earth Day this year, but one on which the world is uncommonly united in purpose, join us on a virtual field trip to Costa Rica, where you can meet some of the agronomists and farmers working hard to make sure your coffee cup – all of our cups – stays full well into the future.

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“The most complicated problems we have now are (coffee leaf) rust and climate change. It’s affected us a lot,” said Raul Blanco, a 22-year-old farmer in Costa Rica who sells coffee to Starbucks.

A seventh-generation coffee farmer, Blanco said he was born into coffee, and remains dedicated to the future of the crop and his family’s land. He also loves imagining his family’s coffee making its way into the cups of coffee drinkers all over the world.

“I've never in my life thought about giving up coffee farming,” Blanco said. “Instead, I've always tried to look for ways to subsist as a coffee farmer, to improve it, day by day, to making (the farm) more profitable, more economical, and always taking care of the environment. Every coffee bean, every bushel of coffee, every truck full you take out every day is for someone somewhere in the world to enjoy it – for someone who is having a cup of coffee to delight in it.”

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Starbucks purchases three percent of the world’s coffee, which is grown by more than 400,000 farmers much like Blanco. Here are six things Starbucks and coffee farmers around the world are doing to help ensure the future of coffee is sustainable and strong:

There’s a sign in the Hacienda Alsacia visitors’ center that reads, “Our mission is to ensure the future of coffee for everyone.” This means Hacienda Alsacia sharing its agronomy research, sustainable farming practices and disease-resistant coffee trees with farmers all over the world so their farms can be more productive and sustainable, which means they can grow even more sustainable, high-quality coffee for Starbucks to buy (and for people to drink), which means coffee farmers have more money to support their families and communities.

“A future without coffee would be almost like a future without rain – on an economic level, for Costa Rica, for families, and also on a personal level for coffee drinkers,” Mendez said. “I feel optimistic about coffee. We always plant more trees because we have to teach to the children, and we must protect nature and the environment.”

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This Earth Day, meet some of the people working to make coffee sustainable - Historias-en

This Earth Day, meet some of the people working to make coffee sustainable

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, take a virtual field trip to Costa Rica to meet some of the agronomists and farmers working to address the effects of climate change.

https://historias.starbucks.com/en-es/stories/2020/this-earth-day-meet-some-of-the-people-working-to-make-coffee-sustainable-2/

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Coffee is at our heart, inspiring our craft and driving innovation—in our drinks, our food, our stores and new ways we bring the Starbucks experience to you wherever you are.

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