Starbucks In Hot Water Over Water Use

Environmentalists Boiling Mad At Chain For Reportedly Wasting Millions Of Gallons A Year

(CBS)  Even if you love your lattes, you may not like what it apparently takes to make one.

As Susan Koeppen reported on The Early Show Wednesday, Starbucks is coming under fire for apparently wasting millions of gallons of water to clean the spoons used to make its famous drinks.

It's probably something you've never noticed at a Starbucks but, behind the counter, off to the side, there's a small sink where the tap is always running.

An employee in one Starbucks admitted to CBS News that that location, at least, leaves the tap running all day.

Starbucks, Koeppen explains, uses what's called a dipper well, a place to keep spoons and other utensils clean after serving up drinks such as lattes and cappuccinos. Environmental groups say keeping that water running to make the fancy drinks wastes millions of gallons of water.

We sent CBS News employees to several Starbucks locations across the country, in New York, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

In some stores, those employees observed taps running non-stop.

Starbucks admits it's company policy to keep the water flowing so utensils stay clean.

That is, says Paul Schwartz, national policy coordinator of Clean Water Action, "a tremendous waste of water when you think about their outlets here in the United States and globally."

The coffee chain says it's following local and state health codes by running water continuously, and issued a statement declaring it "fully recognizes that the dipper well system and the subsequent amount of water that is used by the system is an issue that needs immediate attention."

The company also says it's made efforts to conserve water at it stores: By using high pressure dishwashers to clean dishes quickly, the use of spray nozzles in sinks that reduce water consumption. And by programming espresso machines to use less water during rinse cycles.

In general, Starbucks says it's been working on a solution to the dipper well situation for some time, and stores will phase in new systems when they find one that's safe and effective.

Starbucks, Koeppen points out, is a company with a commitment to the environment. Over the past several years, it's raised millions of dollars to support clean drinking water programs worldwide.

[upto1947]

I don''t belive the BS that people report about. SO what. Don''t these fools have anything better to do. GET A LIFE

[octavianfdlr]

What!? Starbucks is following governmental regulations?!

We need strong governmental regulations to stop such large companies from abiding by governmental regulations. (???) LOL

(Question: how exactly is the water "wasted"? Does it somehow cease to exist? Is this "waste" of water somehow worse than allowing rivers to continue to flow?)

[oldpilot954]

I wonder how that compares to the water wasted watering lawns?

[whatever1964]

I found the running water is very wasteful and stop going there for coffee.

[puzzler125]

What about stirring my coffee as they prepare it and giving me the spoon/stirrer to use? Nothing to wash, yes it will eventually be trash but nothing to rinse!

[sumose]

I live in the desert, water is like gold here. lets do the math. a faucet running on full is approximately 5 gal a minute, so 5gpm x60 minx 24 one day x one year365= 262800 gallons. thats just one starbucks, there are 7427 of them so if only half waste water that adds up to 975,907,800 gallons of water or one billion gallons a year. Remember that is only half the starbucks...

[dtavares97]

Um....Friendlys Ice Cream shoppes uses this same method for its ice cream scoops. They sit in a pan that has water constantly running to make sure the scoops are clean for scooping the next ice cream order, this method is also used at other ice shoppes around the country and world....your just now learning this???

[tipsyinct]

I''m sorry, maybe a stupid question(s)...How is starbucks harming the environment by running water?!? How is this an environmental issue at all?!? How can you waste WATER the single most abundant resource on the planet(Desert guy, i could see conserving water there, but the reason is not because using too much hurts the environment)?!?!?

[dfwlexusguy]

I thought water that went down the drains was treated and released back into rivers and streams. Oh I know, The heat from the water is causing global warming!LOL Its because of starbucks releasing all that heat and steam that gave hurricane Ike the energy to destroy Galveston. Get a life you stupid enviromentalist, and tackle some real issues!

[lloydbest1]

It''s not just starbucks. Ice cream outlets, yoghurt stores, juice bars; h*ll, regular bars all have this dipper well that state health regulations says they HAVE to use.....
So, some environmental engineering student ought to come up with a scheme to utilize the effects of a dipper well while reducing the amount of water used.
Any of you geniuses out there from MIT, Cal Tech, Texas A & M, Oregon State, Purdue or wherever want to give it a shot?

In any case, I see Master''s thesis waiting to be written.

[jeff95--2008]

This is a travesty! Read this! http://greenlabelman.wordpress.com/

[jeff95--2008]

This is a travesty! Read this! http://greenlabelman.wordpress.com/