WASTE RECAPTURE BIN
CSDS x Starbucks Paper Cup Waste Recapture Initiative
Starbucks and its sustainability partners had a big goal: recapture the millions of paper cups used daily and find a scalable, closed-loop system that didn’t disrupt customer experience. Despite clear commitments to sustainability, they struggled with the reality that most paper cups still ended up in the landfill. Branded environments and fast service made it hard to introduce behavior change at the retail level.
They had tried educational signage and back-of-house recycling, but without front-of-house solutions that integrated with customer behavior, the impact was minimal. The gap wasn’t just infrastructure—it was design that met people where they were.
Without a better system, the waste continued to pile up—along with reputational pressure from consumers expecting better from their favorite brands.
Working through the Center for Sustainable Design Studies, I led a multidisciplinary team of industrial designers, graphic designers, and environmental management students. We developed and prototyped a pop-up, flat-packable bin cover made from recyclable cardboard—designed to re-enter the same waste stream as the cups themselves. The intervention was low-cost, brand-aligned, and easy to deploy. We tested the system at The New School Café and shared findings with the broader industry at a national recycling conference.
