Dunkin Donuts opens “green” store

This week, Dunkin’ Donuts opened their first “green” store in St. Petersburg, Florida. The store is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified and has: energy-efficient insulated concrete foam walls, energy-efficient lighting, and water-efficient plumbing fixtures. Even more interesting is the store’s “earthworm casting facility,” where earthworms will eat the waste produced by the store.

This may be a step in the right direction, but Dunkin’ has a long way to go considering that most of its stores use styrofoam cups and they seem to double-cup their drinks more often than some other coffee shops. To-go coffee cups and paper sleeves passed out by the hundreds at other coffee shops are not be completely eco-friendly, either, considering that not many make it back to the recycling bin. But in fairness, a lot of the paper goods used at coffee shops do start out with some percentage of post-consumer recycled paper, and that is a much bigger step towards being eco-friendly than changing the energy needs of one store.