Starbucks uses nearly 8 million plastic cups a day, advertising them as recyclable — when in reality, most are sent to landfills and incinerators.

Join Beyond Plastics Buffalo and our partners across the nation in a week-long action campaign calling on Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol to enact REAL SOLUTIONS to reduce the company's plastic pollution.

Bring yourself, a sign (if you'd like), and a friend or two, and join us as we call on Starbucks to:

1. Follow its own waste reduction policy, A Better Cup for All, which is meant to give workers the resources and staffing to serve in-house customers reusable cups and glasses, unless a to-go cup is specifically requested.
2. Switch nationwide from plastic to paper to-go cups and lids — a change Starbucks has already made in 550 stores across 14 states.
3. Stop greenwashing immediately by removing the recycling images of plastic cups from in-store bins. They are not recyclable, and thus they are not recycled.

And since this is Buffalo — home to the first company-owned Starbucks in the nation to successfully unionize, sparking a wave of baristas unionizing nationwide — let's be sure to show up for our friends at Starbucks Workers United while we're there!

Plastic pollution impacts us right here in WNY. A USGS study of Great Lakes tributaries found the Buffalo River to be among the most contaminated waterways studied, with microplastic concentrations of 31 particles per cubic meter. Analysis of Buffalo River samples confirmed the presence of microplastics from snack food wrappers and plastic beverage packaging. The City of Buffalo draws its drinking water from Lake Erie — less than a mile from the mouth of the Buffalo River — and microplastics have been detected in that supply, as well as in fish species that local communities rely on for food.

Together, we CAN stop plastic pollution from invading our waterways, our drinking water, and our bodies. The solution isn't more recycling or fancy tech fixes — it's less plastic, full stop.

The good news: a policy called the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA) has already been proposed in New York State and is backed by many elected officials, including the Buffalo Common Council! But we need more officials and communities to get on board.

We hope you'll join us as we call for change, and for less plastic pollution in WNY.