Starbucks Paper Cup - Life Cycle Analysis

Paper Cup

ABSTRACT

This report is a life cycle analysis of the STARBUCKS paper cups that are made from polyethylene and composite paper consisting of 90% virgin paper board

Life Cycle Analysis

and 10% post-consumer paper. After diving deep into researching its manufacturing and impact on the environment, I proposed a redesign

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Instructor: Heidrun Mumper-Drumm

strategy to create a more sustainable packaging concept from production to end-of-life recycling.

Table of Content

1

LCA - Current Scope Functional Units Cueebnt Dbsign Peocbss Tebe Invbntoey Mateix & Impact Mateix (wood fiber Invbntoey Mateix & Impact Mateix (pbteolbum7

2

Goal & Strategy

3

LCA - Re esign Scope Functional Units Peocbss Tebe Invbntoey Mateix & Impact Mateix (wood fibe7

4

Conclusion

5

References

01 Scope ThislLCAlanalysislhaslcoveredlthelpackagingldesignloflthelStarbuckslpaperl cupslfromlthelinitiallstageloflrawlmaterialslcollecting,lsupplier,lmanufacturing,l distribution,landlconsumptionltolthelendlofllife.lUnfortunately,lthelsupplyl chainlofleachlplotloflthelproductionlprocedureslvarieslbecauseloflthellabor,l locallregulation,ltransportation,landlotherluncontrollablelfactors,lsolthelcostl maylchangelaccordingly.lAndlthislstudylwouldlonlylfocuslonlthelVentilsizel paperlcuplandlhaslnotlincludedlthelcoffeelsectionldueltolthelvariousl categoriesloflthelcaffeinelbeverageslofferedlatlstoreslacrossllocations8 AndlthelLCAlanalysislislbasedlonlthelproductlIlreceivedlfromlalStarbucksl storelinlCalifornia,lsolIlamlreferencinglthelgenerallconditionloflthelprocedurel forlin-personlusage.

0 c o

AlWUloz.lhotlbeveragelholder,lmadelofltwolmaterialsElwoodlfberlpulplandl petroleum,lkeepslthelcontentlwarmlforl<-Wlhourslwhilelmaintaininglanl accessibleltemperaturelforlcustomersltolholdlbutlentirelylgoeslintollandflll afterlconsumption.

Impact per unit of product service

=

Impact ___________________ 100 cups of coffee

03 Current Design

Starbucks paper cups are used as containers for the Starbucks coffee.

16g petroleum paper cup for 20 oz. capacity 4g plastic coffee cap 5g paper sleeve 1g plastic splash stic(

04 Process Tree This LCA analysis goes with the process tree for the current design where wood fber and petroleum are evenly introduced alongside the entire procedure¨ ased on the ones that I got from the Starbucks store in California, United States, the process tree would focus on this system¨ And it can not be used as a representative for other circumstances.

No.

1

Stages

Raw Materials Around 357,000,000 trees are cut every year to produce all of Starbucks ' polyethylene paper cups Shannon 49. The paper layer consists of 0% virgin paper board and 10% post-consumer paper Luna 89. International Paper has multiple sources for trees, and they buy from private owners in the US and own trees inland in Brazil and Russia.

Supplier 2

The kinetic energy from machines cuts, grabs, and transports the trees, which are then sent to be debarked, chipped, and converted into pulp. The polyethylene layer is made out of a mixture of ethylene and Benz-aldehyde Paxton 19. Ethylene and Benz-aldehyde are mixed to make polyethylene, which is either combined with the paper pulp to be paper cups or pushed to other components, including plastic caps and splash sticks. The polyethylene is poured into a pelletizer, where it_s turned into pellets till they are heated with thermal energy to be shaped to produce whatever is desired Paxton 59. By preparing raw materials, about “ 000-12000 kg of steam, 60-1000 kw/h of power from electricity, and 50m3 cooling water” will be used per ton of raw materials.

Manufacturing 3

Large roles of pulp manufactured by Mississippi River Corporation will be sent to International Paper, which will convert the pulp into paper. The paper machine turns the wet pulp mixes into the new paper rolls, which are then fed through a converter machine and a printing machine to get the iconic green Starbucks logo printed on the paper board. The sleeves are made of pulp impurities and get printed similarly. And typically, the plastic layer is loaded on a conveyor belt under the in uence of blades and press, forming a lid of the necessary shape and diameter.

Distribution / Retail 4

Keys Energy

Air Pollution

Seed

GHG Emissions

Water

Water Waste

Gasoline

Sand/Dirt/Dust

Transportation

Solid Waste

Ink Electricity

5

Once the Starbucks paper cups are made, they need to pass the quality check before delivering to Starbucks locations nationwide, where they wait to have coffee poured into them to be served to a coffee customer.

All those components are randomly selected from a sample, after which it is examined for leaks or ruptures in the bonded material. In case the problem is detected, the whole line is stopped and investigated.

Purchase / Use About 80% of the cups will make their way out of the Starbucks coffee house, where the majority of them will end up in the landfll Bouchard 9.

End-of-life 6

Polyethylene paper cups are “special” in most of the world; they are not recyclable or compostable. The polyethylene lining must be removed from the paper lining since they are two different materials and undergo various processes to be recycled or composted. The majority of transfer stations worldwide do not have the infrastructure to remove the polyethylene lining. But even if a transfer station had the infrastructure, they would still not want to recycle polyethylene cups since recycling them is not costeiffcient anyway.

P

Wood FIBER & PULP

Petroleum

1

Ethylene

Wood Growing &

Benz-aldehyde

Harvesting Recycled Paper

Polyethylene

Roug[ Machining Wood

Pelletizing to Pellets

2

Pulping

Heating

Convert & Consolidate

Patterning

3

Drying & Printing

Forming Shapes through belting & pressing

LidsÀSleevesÀSplash Sticks

Paper Cups

Qualifying & Packing

4

Distribution

Use 5

Post-Consumption

Wearing

Collecting

6

Decompose

Landfll

05 Inventory Matrix Wood FIBER & PULP Material Input

Energy

Waste & Emissions

Raw Material Extraction

seed, fertilizer, Water

Fuel, Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, Emissions to soil, Sand, Dirt, Dust

Material Processing

Recycled paper pulp, Water chemicals

Fuel, Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, waste chemicals

Component ManuØacturing

bleaching Water, ink, chemicals, adhesive

Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, Hazardous Waste

Assembly & Pacâaging

bleaching Water, ink, chemicals, adhesive

Electricity

packaging waste

Distribution & Purcóase

gasoline cup components

Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, shipping Waste

Installation & Use

N/A

N/A

N/A

Maintenance & Upgrading

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Cycle: Recyclin g

DEPOSABLE PAPER LAYERS

Electricity

solid waste Sand, Dirt, Dust

Cycle: Disposa l

gasoline cup components

Fuel, Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, solid waste Sand, Dirt, Dust

Cycle: Reus e

(product/components)

(materials)

(incineration/landAll)

Impact Assessment Matrix Resource Depletion

Global Warming

Ozone Layer Depletion

Acid Rain

Solid Waste

Land Degradation

Positive

Water Polution

Air Polution

Neutral Negative

Reduced Biodiversity

06 Inventory Matrix Petroleum Material Input

Energy

Waste & Emissions

Raw Material Extraction

chemicals, Water

Fuel, Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, Sand, Dirt, Dust

Material Processing

Water chemicals

Fuel, Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, waste chemicals

Component Manu:acturing

chemicals, pellets, adhesive

Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, Hazardous Waste

Assembly & PacDaging

adhesive

Electricity

pacúaging waste

Distribution & PurcUase

gasoline cup components

Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, shipping Waste

Installation & Use

N/A

N/A

N/A

Maintenance & Upgrading

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

compound

Fuel, Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, Hazardous waste Sand, Dirt, Dust

Cycle Reus (product/components)

Cycle Recyclin (materials)

Cycle Disposaª (incineration/land ll)

Impact Assessment Matrix Resource Depletion

Global Warming

Ozone Layer Depletion

Acid Rain

Solid Waste

Land Degradation

Positive

Water Polution

Air Polution

Neutral Negative

Reduced Biodiversity

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08 Scope (new) The redesign assumes that the new sustainable manufacturing procedure for Starbucks paper cups will be able to reduce a large number of solid wastes and hazardous chemicals compared to the linear material economr that Starbucks used to ha e. owe er, the brand recognition and o erall strle change accordinglr but still show the brand identitr.

And the redesign uses wood fber pulpppaperr as the primarr material for all the components that ensure the functional units while keeping the whole process circular.

0@ ><;c=8o;6B 4;8=9 (new) A 2] oz. hot be erage holder, made of onlr one material - wood fber pulp, but in different shapes, keeps the content warm for 1-2 hours while maintaining an accessible temperature for customers to hold. Most of the materials used to construct a single cup can be recrcled.

Impact per unit of product service

=

Impact ___________________ 100 cups of coffee

10 Process Tree (new) This LCA analysis also provided the process tree for the redesign proposal, where only wood fier is introduced alongside the entire procedure. And this redesign only focuses on the Venti size paper cup. It has not included the coffee section due to the various categories of caffeine ieverages offered at stores across locations.

Process

Wood FIBER & PULP Wood Growing & Harvesting Recycled Paper

Roug¹ Machining Wood Pulping Convert & Consolidate Patterning

Keys Energy

Drying & Printing Forming Shapes through belting & pressing

Seed Water

Paper Caps

Gasoline

Stickers

Qualifying & Packing

Transportation

Distribution

Ink

Use

ElePtriPity Air Pollution

Paper Cups

PostëConsumption

GHG Emissions

Wearing Collecting

Water Waste

Decompose

Sand/Dirt/Dust Solid Waste

Landfll

Recycling

11 Inventory Matrix (new) Wood FIBER & PULP

Material Input

Energy

Waste & Emissions

Raw Material Extraction

seed, fertilizer, Water

Fuel, Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, Emissions to soil, Sand, Dirt, Dust

Material Processing

Recycled paper pulp, Water chemicals

Fuel, Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, waste chemicals

Component ManuÚacturing

bleaching Water, ink, chemicals, adhesive

Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, Hazardous Waste

Assembly & Pacäaging

bleaching Water, ink, chemicals, adhesive

Electricity

packaging waste

Distribution & Purcõase

gasoline cup components

Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, shipping Waste

Installation & Use

N/A

N/A

N/A

Maintenance & Upgrading

N/A

N/A

N/A

Cycle: Reus e

N/A

N/A

N/A

Cycle: Recyclin g

DEPOSABLE PAPER LAYERS

Electricity

N/A

gasoline

Fuel, Electricity

Emissions to air, GHG emissions, solid waste Sand, Dirt, Dust

(product/components)

(materials)

Cycle: Disposa l (incineration/landAll)

Impact Assessment Matrix (new) Positive

Resource

Global

Depletion

Warming

Ozone Layer Depletion

Acid Rain

Neutral

Negative

Solid

Land

Water

Air

Reduced

Waste

Degradation

Polution

Polution

Biodiversity

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13 References “Starbucks Paper Cups - Design Life.” Cycle, www.designlife-cycle.com/ starbucks-paper-cups.

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Web. 09 Mar. 2013.