BusinessGreen reports on an article in The Sun about Starbucks’ use of water in it stores.

Starbucks has been accused of greenwashing today after it was claimed that the company wastes 23.4 million litres of water – enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool every 83 minutes – by leaving taps on in its branches all day.

Pun intended, but using that much water is not washing in a green manner.  I also don’t think that it is green washing.  Green washing to me is when a company makes a green claim about its products or services that is less than accurate either factually or morally.  No where in the article does it say that Starbucks is claiming that it uses less water than its competitors or that it is a water efficient company.

By all means Starbucks should be taken to task for not being more efficient in its use of water.  They should also be ashamed of their response to the accusations.

A representative for Starbucks said: “Dipper wells use a stream of continuous cold fresh-running water to rinse away food residue, help keep utensils clean and prevent bacterial growth. This technique is common and well-accepted in the industry.”

They added that the company’s policies were in line with World Health Organisation (WHO), United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the European Union (EU) directives for in-store water supply standards, but conceded, that ” the opportunity exists to reduce our total water usage”.

The proper response to something like this is “Thank you for pointing out an opportunity to improve. We will certainly look into it.  This may require be a longer term solution as we have to follow local health codes.” 

A company can’t change everything over night, but by this time next year Starbucks should certianly be able to point to dramatic changes.  I hope The Sun follows up on this topic.