CHAPTER 4

PROJECT METHODOLOGY
Project Methodology

Tata Starbucks, the joint venture between the Starbucks Coffee Co and Tata Global Beverages,
with both holding equal stake (50/50 joint venture), entered the Indian market in October 2012.
It currently operates 45 stores in India across Mumbai, Delhi and the national capital region,
Pune, Bangalore, Chennai and other cities.

Primary Data Sources

The primary data collection has been collected directly from interacting with the employees
and stakeholders of Tata Starbucks store in Koramangala about the various problems of
sustainability being faced and the challenges they’ve to face in the disposal and the
environmental issues associated with it.

Secondary Data Sources

All the necessary secondary data pertaining to the report have been collected from various
journals, newspapers reports and sustainability report of the company. The information are of
current in nature.

Tata Starbucks Cups - The Problem

Many customers walked into Starbucks stores every week, according to the company. Around
40% of Starbucks customers took their beverage on the go, while only 20% of customers did
the same in other markets. Starbucks had been using disposable paper cups to serve its
customers on the go for a long time. It claimed that it had little option other than paper cups.
Starbucks discarded an estimated 3 billion paper cups and 1 billion plastic cups each year,
which bought the company under intense scrutiny. Nearly 80% of the paper cups ended up in
landfills.
Tata Starbucks Response

Tata Starbucks commitment to the environment began with its first store opening in 2012 with
the use of paper bags, paper sleeves and paper napkins made from recycled fibre.

The paper cups used for hot and cold beverage are in adherence to FSC (Forest Stewardship
Council) standards, and over time, Starbucks has strengthened its commitment with various
green initiatives like the introduction of ceramic and glass serve ware for food and beverages
consumed within the stores, transitioning towards compostable and biodegradable cutlery, and
the recent introduction of compostable straws.

Starbucks stores which bring to life the Starbucks third place experience focus on locally
relevant designs which use sustainable material as far as possible. Starbucks globally is the
largest builder of green stores and the commitment to deepen environmental-friendly retail in
India has begun with the launch of three LEED®-certified stores in India.

Sustainability Initiatives

The Sustainability mission of Starbucks extends equally to greener stores and a greener cup.
Tata Starbucks commitment to the environment began with its first store opening in 2012 with
the use of paper bags, paper sleeves and paper napkins made from recycled fibre. Starbucks
encourages its partners and customers to go green with neighbourhood social impact initiatives
and customer-facing initiatives such as ‘Grounds for your Garden’ which allows customers to
pick up a free bag of used coffee grounds from select Starbucks stores to enrich their garden
while enabling efficient waste management.

On World Environment Day, Tata Starbucks reinforces its commitment to reducing waste with
two sustainability initiatives – ‘Bring Your Own Tumbler’ which gives an incentive (INR 10
off) to customers for using their own personal mugs or tumblers for beverages and the ‘No
Paper Bill’ initiative where customers can opt out of receiving paper receipts, reducing paper
usage.

Tata Starbucks CEO said All the 138 stores across India will switch to eco-friendly cutlery,
stirrers, cups, straws, cap lids, etc made from corn starch. Unlike the plastic items that take
hundreds of years to degrade, the new green options will decompose within two-three years.
Energy Conservation

Tata Starbucks Pvt Ltd by building more energy-efficient stores and facilities, conserving the
energy and water we use, and purchasing renewable energy credits, we are pushing ourselves
to reduce the environmental footprint of our business operations. The company installed
Energy Management Systems optimize heating and cooling and will enable to identify
additional opportunities for savings going forward.

Water Conservation

Water savings came through several measures, including installing efficient fixtures;
monitoring consumption to identify spikes in water usage and targeting leak repairs; and
upgrading the water filtration systems in our stores.

Investing in Renewable Energy

The company is aggressively focusing on renewable sources by tapping solar energy by setting
up photo voltaic cell panels and saving energy and carbon foot print.

Community Service

Tata Starbucks believes in “Every store is part of a community. Therefore, they inspire
employees and customers alike to get involved in their communities through local service
programs.

Swastha Project

Swastha, a centre for special education and rehabilitation, Starbucks will work with Tata to
support the expansion of 'Swastha,' a school for children with special needs (in partnership with
the Coorg Foundation) and aim to increase its capacity and outreach into the rural communities
in the coffee growing region of Karnataka.

CHAI Project

Starbucks is proud to continue work with the Community, Health and Advancement Initiative
(CHAI)—a collaboration between the Tata Starbucks Foundation, Mercy Corps, Indian tea
companies and origin communities in India. The company has collaborated to help improve
the quality of life for 190 tea and botanical communities in a sustainable way. To date,
Starbucks and our tea suppliers have contributed US$2.6 million to these efforts, and have
 directly impacted more than 12,000 villagers with health services and economic development
assistance.

Today, CHAI is helping people in origin communities to:

 Improve access to water and sanitation

 Help young people succeed in school and become leaders in their communities

 Learn the skills to get a job or start a business

Community Needs

From our interactions and web sources, we got to know that, more than 60% of Indian tea
comes from Northeast India and Darjeeling where approximately 3 million people work on tea
estates. Most are daily wage laborers. Each household is generally allotted permanent worker
status for one – sometimes two – family members. Mandatory benefits include living quarters,
rations of wheat, rice, and firewood, a toilet, and drinking water facilities. However, the
industry has not been able to meet these requirements for all residents on tea estates, and the
weak economy beyond the estates severely limits employment options. CHAI is the only
organization working with tea estates in Northern Indian, which are normally autonomous
entities with little or no government or NGO presence.

Partnerships & Sustainability

In all CHAI Project areas, communities contribute a significant percentage of the cost of their
local infrastructure projects, generally including volunteer labour and construction materials
that are available locally. On average, communities contribute approximately half of the value
of infrastructure projects. In some case, tea estate management and local government have also
begun to contribute to these projects.
 CHAPTER 4

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

Analysis & Results

From the sustainability and green practices point of view, following things can be noted:

 More than 75,000 people and their families have been directly impacted by CHAI.
 Youth Empowerment: In Assam, 54 youth groups formed with 6,000 youth engaged
in projects. The high school dropout rate in Assam is 60%. However, 91% of
participants in CHAI Education Retention program continue to higher education.
 65% of youth in the CHAI vocational training program found employment. 2,100
women participated in savings groups, and program supported 1,500 micro-
entrepreneurs.
 By 2022, Tata Starbucks aims to reuse their cups and waste and increase their resuable
efficiency by 40%.
 Espresso machines to dispense less water when rinsing espresso shot glasses.
 Tata Starbucks introduced ceramic and glass serve ware for food and beverages
consumed within the stores, transitioning towards compostable and biodegradable
cutlery.
 Initiatives such as ‘Grounds for your Garden’ which allows customers to pick up a free
bag of used coffee grounds from select Starbucks stores to enrich their garden while
enabling efficient waste management.
 Tata Starbucks already encourages customers to Bring Your Own Tumbler which gives
customers an incentive (Rs 10 Off) for going green and the ‘No Paper Bill’ initiative
where customers can opt out of receiving paper receipts to reduce waste.
 Paper cups used at the Starbucks stores are in adherence with FSC (Forest Stewardship
Council).
 New alternatives like dipper well system is used to clean utensils that is expected to
significantly reduce the water usage across the globe.
 Tata Starbucks has established Farmer Support Centres in India to provide local farmers
with resources and expertise to help lower the cost of production, reduce fungus
infections, improve coffee quality.
 Company believes in managing waste, protect water quality, conserve water and
energy, preserve biodiversity and reduce agrochemical use.
 100% of coffee is certified verified by an independent third party.