How does buying a cup of coffee from Starbucks affect the environment - Dissertation Example

Topic:  How does buying a cup of coffee from Starbucks affect the environment? Environmental protection is a major global concern today, and more people and organization are taking voluntary steps to protect the nature from being pollution. Currently, many corporate and non – profit organizations are focused on methods to preserve the planet from malicious by –products of industrial process. When we think about big food chains like Starbucks and Mc Donald’s, we can understand the negative impact they can have on the sustainability of the eco –system.

The major set back of a food chain like Starbucks is its use of non – bio degradable coffee cups, which is circulated immensely around the globe at a staggering level. Starbuck’s, use of non –recyclable cups of synthetic nature can pollute the planet greatly and can cause irreversible damage to it. Starbucks being a huge food chain have captured the coffee market globally by taking on the increased demand of coffee lovers. They also maintain their good will by means of powerful advertisement they display in the international business arena.

This coffee chain have spread over much part of the globe and have influenced people many people in buying their product , as it is assured to be the best and perfect in the market. This coffee chain has attempted to take action to make it products eco – friendly, but was not successful in its efforts. Seven stores of Starbucks in Manhattan have launched a cup-recycling program in collaboration with Global Green USA’s Coalition for Recovery in an effort to reduce the usage of non – recyclable in their coffee chains (Mohan ,2009).

Much of the countries on global level, are facing natural adversities because of the extreme exploitation and pollution of the nature. Even though the governments and legislations of various developed and developing countries create strategies and plans to implement environmental protection, less can be seen in action. .This kind of negligence from international food chains are taxing heavily on the eco-system and cause irreparable loss to the natural food chain and other valuable resources of the planet.

The Starbucks in order to save on the cost factor ignore the natural disaster their coffee cups can bring about in the nature. Even though people feel convenient in drinking from their non –recyclable cups, they are less knowledgeable about the consequences it can bring to the natural sustainability of the planet. There are many studies done in order to perceive the amount of waste disposed in nature by Starbucks by taking into account various factors. The first phase was considering the determinants of waste generation in America by keeping in mind the elements like economic, structural and demographic variables.

In this per capital retail sales, urban population percentage and per capital income was taken it account to calculate the waste generation quotient. However, the study concluded that when retails sales increased the per capital waste generation also increased. So an effective solution for Starbucks is to consider recycling cups which reduce pollution of the environment. For example, one of the challenges in eradicating the use of disposable products is that the true cost of using these disposable products, the externalities, are not included into the price we actually pay for them (Zaida,2009).

It is a general fact, that the cups used by Starbucks for hot beverages are made out of paper fiber and low density plastic materials. This plastic element in the cups is the main culprits in causing damage to the environment as they are non –degradable. So we can here analyze the anti- environmental attitude of the Starbucks is adding to the waste generation proportion of the planet. Recycling is a matter that should be seriously valued by this global coffee chain to save the resources and the planet from being irreversibly damaged. . It would not be wrong to say that the government also should play a crucial role in controlling and monitoring matters related to environmental protection and preservation.

However, the best way to encourage Starbucks to be eco – conscious is to develop awareness in their customers by motivating the chain to use eco –friendly products to make the earth a better place to live in. The main aim of this study is to analyze the effect of Starbucks on the environment and its sustainability. The major concern here is the non – bio degradable cup, which is disposed by Starbucks rampantly that is threatening nature.(Brown ,2010)“Serving beverages in an estimated 3 billion paper cups each year, the coffee giant Starbucks, has come under intense scrutiny for using cups that are largely non-recyclable”.

Here, the waste generation measure is concentrated to test our hypothesis, coming from Starbucks outlets. Data on waste generation can be studied from various Starbucks outlet throughout a locality in South America. This data will help in figuring out the exact number of non- recyclable cups being circulated in the coffee outlets on a daily basis. Now the data collection is important in research as it helps the researcher to access the information of the subject which is under study. As per (University of Wisconsin, 2009) Data Collection is a focus point of any form of research study.

Inaccurate data collection can negatively affect the results of a research and ultimately lead to false results. The data collection method here is qualitative approach, in which surveys and interviews will be done to collect the information’s. In survey, questionnaires would be handed over to the customers at the Starbucks coffee outlets. Also few employees of Starbucks will interviewed to understand the amount of hot beverages delivered per day to the customers at the coffee outlets. In his book (Rozakis, 2007) writes that interviews give chance to people for conducting primary research and collect valuable information which is otherwise unavailable in books and web sources.

Variables The independent variable in the study is the gender , age of the customers and their occupation .The dependent variables for the data collection is going to be frequency of visit and locality of the outlet. The variables are crucial aspect of any methodology as they help in detecting the number of non – recyclable cups being disposed on a daily basis in a specific locality chosen for study. The variables are said to be the logical sets or attributes which assists a researcher in conducting a research or study in a systematic way” Babbie, 2007, pg.15). It is very essential to know this; only them can be a measure of waste generation can be calculated by the researchers.

These variables are centered to test the hypothesis and they will be questioned by means of survey and interviews. Questions asked will be like, frequency of their visits, gender, occupation and quantity of beverage consumed .The independent variable like age and gender of the customers are crucial as it allows to understand the age and sex group who needs to be alerted regarding environmental protection .Occupation and locality allows the researcher to know people in which profession and which outlet generate more threat to environment.

Finally, the methodology used to test the hypothesis is the statistical test method. The statistical method of evaluating is done through collecting and arranging data in a systematic way .It is observed as a universal and approved system in all scientific research(Yim,2007). Statistical Table Avg. Frequency of Visit Gender of Customer Age Group Occupation Male Female 18-30 30-50 Student Official Outlet 1 2 10 15 11 14 10 22 Outlet 2 1 11 14 10 23 11 14 Outlet 3 1 13 15 14 16 13 15 Outlet 4 2 15 11 11 14 10 15 *Frequency of visit is on average basis per day The statistical information is collected form four outlets that are from different localities of South America.

From first outlet there were 10 male and 15 females, and in that 11 were from 18-30 age group and 14 from 30-5 0 age group. The occupation of these were 10 student and 22 office going people. From second outlet there were 11 male and 14 females, and in that 10were from 18-30 age group and 23 from 30-5 0 age group. The occupation of these were 11 student and 14 office going people. From third outlet there were 13 male and 15 females, and in that 14were from 18-30 age group and 16 from 30-5 0 age group.

The occupation of these were 13 student and 15 office going people. From fourth there were 15 male and 11 females, and in that 11 were from 18-30 age group and 14 from 30-5 0 age group the occupation of these were 10 student and 15 office going people. Bibliography Brown, L. (2010, April 26). Can starbucks find a way to recycle 4 billion cups?. Retrieved from http://earth911.com/news/2010/04/26/can-starbucks-find-a-way-to-recycle-4-billion-cups/. Babbie, E.R. (2007). The practice of social research .

California: Cengage Learning. Mohan, Anne Marie. "NY Starbucks stores launch cup-recycling program ." www.greenerpackage.com Summit Media Group, 10 September 2009. Web. 9 Apr 2011. . Rozakis, L. (2007). Schaum's quick guide to writing great research papers . New York: Mc-Graw Hill Professional University of Wisconsin. (2011). Data collection methods. Retrieved from http://people.uwec.edu/piercech/ResearchMethods/Data%20collection%20methods/DATA%20COLLECTION%20METHODS.html. Yim, K.H. (2010). Analysis of statistical methods and errors in the articles .

Korean Journal of Pain, 23(1), 35-41. Zaida, Hanna. (2009, Deember 15). . disposable coffee cup waste reduction study. Retrieved from http://msep.mcmaster.ca/epp/.pdf publications/DisposableCofeeCup