H2Offenders: Starbucks gets blasted for leaving tap running at all locationsby Josh Loposer
Oct 6th 2008 @ 10:15AM
Filed under: Food, Health, Green by the Numbers
When it comes to corporate greenness, there are plenty of surprise winners and losers out there. For example, IBM's business practices are more eco-friendly than Apple's. Or, that the once vilified Wal-Mart is now pursuing some of the nation's most ambitious sustainability goals. To add to the list, we now find that Starbucks -- one of the most successful and consumer savvy companies around -- has been pouring enough water down the drain each day to supply the entire nation of Zambia.
That's due to a strange health/cleanliness policy that mandates that a faucet over a sink called the "dipping well" must be kept running at all times. Apparently, Starbucks health officials believe that running the tap constantly prevents bacteria growth in the pipes -- or something like that. Most experts seem to believe that Starbucks' obsession with running water is pure superstition, and a wasteful one at that. According to The Sun, leaving one Starbucks tap running for just 3 minutes wastes "the amount of water one African needs to survive for a day in drought conditions."
The problem really spirals out of control when you take into account that Starbucks is operating 10,000 stores worldwide, pouring an estimated 6.18 million gallons of water down the drain per day.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1771553.ece
2 comments:
You know...I heard about this the other day...and I really dont get it. As a microbiologist who is supposed to understand bacteria...I do not understand why they keep their water on...Does it matter if there are bacteria in the pipes? Do they shove their equiptment into the drain before sticking it in their mouths? Is it because they use tap-water as drinking water? If it's as simple as the latter, then perhaps a filter will be way better...that way you can avoid other microorganisms in addition to the bacteria...organisms that live in the water and will make you sick no matter how long you leave the water running...
Stupid starsucks...
Beat -- Congrats on getting the ammo you've been looking for for years to take down The 'Bucks.
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