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Plastic Policies and Initiatives of International Coffee Chains
Summary
This study examined the plastic reduction policies of major international coffee chains and found significant variability in commitment and action. Some chains have made meaningful pledges to reduce single-use plastics while others lag behind. The research highlights that corporate policy is a critical but underexplored lever for reducing plastic pollution at scale.
Environmental issues including plastic pollution are considered significant threats to future generations. Successful implementation of both legislative and non-legislative policies is necessary to achieve plastic pollution mitigation. While many researchers focus on policies at a larger scale, there is a lack of research concerning initiatives taken by businesses. This study examined how influential international chain businesses implement plastic policies at a corporate level. This study focused on corporate plastic initiatives taken by the four world’s leading international coffee chains: Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Dunkin’ Donuts, and McDonald’s. The information on the corporate policies was collected in a table chronologically, and later categorized according to 3R principles (i.e., reduce, reuse, and recycle) for the analysis. The study showed that all four companies advocate sustainability and launched different plastic initiatives, however, most corporate communication focused on promoting the launch of plastic initiatives, and the outcomes of those efforts were mostly missing. This study calls for disclosure of further details about corporate initiatives and collaboration between academia and the industry for a comprehensive assessment framework.