Calgary kids pitch Starbucks on greener cups

Company announced $10M initiative before Terrace Road pupils met with CEO

Two Calgary students with a petition asking Starbucks Coffee Co. to create a fully recyclable cup were granted a meeting with the chain’s CEO this week.

Mya Chau and Eve Helman, Grade 6 students from Terrace Road School, were also allowed to attend the company ’s shareholder meeting Wednesday in Seattle, leaving them happy with the response they received.

While the girls travelled from Calgary to Seattle on Tuesday, Kevin Johnson, CEO of Starbucks, was coincidentally announcing a $10-million initiative that will encourage development of a recyclable and compostable cup for its products.

After arriving in Seattle and meeting with the senior leadership in the head office of Starbucks, the girls were given the opportunity to present their 316,000-name petition in person to Johnson.

They were then extended an invitation to attend the shareholder meeting, where they spoke to more than 3,000 shareholders, Starbucks executives and guests.

“It was scary and cool at the same time,” said Mya.

The girls — whose trip was supported by Change.org — also met with a coalition of environmental organizations before the meeting. Together, more than 884,000 signatures were part of the petition calling for Starbucks to create a better cup.

Maya and Eve say they “want Starbucks to offer a ceramic mug to customers if they are staying at the store.”

Tim Gallant, communications manager for Starbucks, said the company wholeheartedly shares the girls’ concerns.

“On stage, Kevin (Johnson) said it was a pleasure to meet with them and publicly applauded their ini- tiative and creativity, stating Starbucks shares with them a common goal.”

Starbucks stated on its website that the company will enter a partnership with Closed Loop Partners, as well as its Centre for the Circular Economy, to launch the NextGen Cup Challenge.

The NextGen Cup Challenge is a consortium that will award accelerator grants to entrepreneurs working to develop a more sustainable cup solution. This will also invite participation and partnership and will potentially identify a global solution.

During the NextGen Cup Challenge, Starbucks is going to internally test a cup with a bio-liner and partly plant-based material for its paper cup.

Eve Helman and Mya Chau, Grade 6 students at Terrace Road School, were able to deliver their petition asking Starbucks to implement a fully recyclable coffee cup to CEO Kevin Johnson on Wednesday in Seattle, where they were invited to speak at the...