If you attach a GPS tracker to a “widely recyclable” plastic Starbucks cup and drop it in an in-store recycling bin, you might expect it to end up at a recycling plant. But environmental watchdog Beyond Plastics says that’s not the case in a new report - and they’ve got the Bluetooth data to prove it.
Starbucks announced earlier this year that their plastic cups were now considered “widely recyclable” according to How2Recycle, a group affiliated with the consumer packaging industry that helps companies label their packaging. The coffee giant called it a “big milestone, with huge impact”. Beyond Plastics, whose mission is to “end plastic pollution everywhere”, decided to test that claim between January and March 2026.
“I used Bluetooth-enabled trackers,” said study lead Susan Keefe. “And I glued them into the cups using Gorilla Glue and dropped them into the actual custom-labeled recycling bins in the Starbucks stores. And then you can follow them on your phone.”
Keefe and volunteers tracked 53 polypropylene plastic cups starting in recycling bins at Starbucks locations across nine states and Washington DC. Each bin had signs clearly indicating these specific cups could be recycled. The results were stunning: not one cup ended up at a recycling facility. Of the 36 trackers that reached a final destination intact, none were at a recycling facility. Instead, 16 pinged from landfills, nine from incinerators, eight at waste-transfer stations, and three at a materials recovery facility (which bales but does not recycle plastics). The cup with the longest journey traveled from a Williamsburg, Brooklyn, location all the way to a landfill in Amsterdam, Ohio.
“To come out and just say: ‘Oh, these cups are widely recyclable,’ is really deceptive,” said Keefe. “We have to accept the fact these materials are not being recycled. They just aren’t.” Polypropylene, the material used for these cups, can theoretically be recycled - but very few facilities are equipped to do so. A Greenpeace report from late 2025 found only two commercially operating facilities in the country: one in Alabama and one in Missouri.
“I have to imagine that Starbucks is aware of the number of facilities that actually reprocess the waste,” says Keefe. “Starbucks is telling people that these items are actually recyclable. Well, that doesn’t actually mean that recycling is happening.” Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics and a former EPA regional administrator, emphasized that “accepting a plastic item for recycling is not the same as actually recycling it, and the company knows the difference”. “It’s time for Starbucks to stop making misleading recycling claims and start prioritizing plastic-free, preferably reusable, alternatives for its customers,” she said.
Starbucks did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment. Beyond Plastics recommends Starbucks switch all plastic cups nationwide to fiber-based to-go cups and lids, and encourage more reusable cup use, but at the very least remove misleading labeling on in-store recycling bins. “I think we need to stop talking about plastic recyclability and really focus on moving away from single-use plastic, at least for food and beverage packaging,” said Keefe, noting that plastic contains chemicals affecting human health. Peer-reviewed studies have repeatedly found that plastic waste can be toxic, leading to respiratory illnesses, endocrine disruption and cancer.
“I really believe that companies, when they make claims, especially claims that are about sustainability and setting goals, that they should be held accountable to those goals,” Keefe said. “Starbucks in particular, I mean, they’re the largest coffee chain in the world. So what they say matters.”