Starbucks opens first greener store in Puerto Rico
Starbucks and local operator Baristas del Caribe have announced that the Dorado Express store in Puerto Rico has become the island’s first greener-certified location. The certification is part of Starbucks’ global expansion of its open-source Greener Store Framework, which aims to reduce the company’s carbon emissions, water usage and waste sent to landfills by 50% by 2030.
Located in the town of Dorado, the store is designed to minimize environmental impact by offering customers options that align with their preferences while ensuring sustainable practices and materials.
“We are proud to achieve this certification as the first Greener Store in Puerto Rico. Together with our partners (employees), we have taken on with great dedication the responsibility of taking care of the planet we share,” said Idis Ortiz-López, general manager of Starbucks in Puerto Rico.
The Dorado Express store was constructed to meet the Greener Store Framework’s standards and features “appropriately sized water heaters, filters and energy-efficient plumbing fixtures that reduce water use by 30%.” The store also utilizes certain materials with recycled content to reduce carbon emissions. All interior and exterior lighting, as well as store signage, is 100% LED, the company added in its news release.
In addition to the Greener Store Framework, Starbucks locations in Puerto Rico participate in the “Ground For Your Garden” initiative, which offers customers free coffee grounds to create compost with other organic materials from their homes.
Starbucks said it plans to continue expanding the Greener Store Framework worldwide, and “aims to build all its new stores in Latin America and the Caribbean under the Greener Store framework by 2030,” as well as a goal of building and retrofitting 10,000 Greener Stores globally by 2025.
Starbucks opened its first store in San Juan in 2002 and has been operated by Baristas del Caribe for the past seven years. There are now 32 locations on the island, employing nearly 600 people.
