Starbucks promotes recycling to customers but many plastic cups end up in the trash

Many consumers trust that when they toss a plastic cup into a recycling bin at a restaurant or coffee shop, it will be recycled and turned into something new. However, a CBS News investigation uncovered that this isn't always true.

CBS News investigated what happens at one of the largest users of plastic cups that advertises its recycling practices: Starbucks. Reporters placed plastic cold drink cups, embedded with trackers, into 57 labeled recycling bins at Starbucks locations across the country to see where the cups went. Only 36 provided reliable data. 

The trackers were superglued between two Starbucks cold drink plastic cups and CBS News monitored each tracker's location multiple times a day until the trackers stopped moving.