Although known for its care for the environment and its work to help protect it, environmental experts accused the giant coffee chain Starbucks of pouring millions of litres of precious water down the drain at its coffee shops, or to be more precise, 23.4 million litres of clean water a day, which would provide enough daily water for the entire two million-strong population of drought-hit Namibia in Africa, or fill an Olympic-sized pool every 83 minutes.

Apparently  the chain has a policy of keeping a tap running non-stop at all its 10,000 outlets worldwide, for “hygiene reasons”, a claim that was later dismissed by experts as “nonsense”.

I personally think there is no excuse whatsoever to waste any amount of water, let alone millions of litres per day. There are always environmental-friendly alternatives available to guarantee a healthy clean environment at any coffee shop or restaurant. If the supervisors of this chain , or any other chain for that matter, are clueless on how to keep a balance between protecting the health of their customers and protecting the environment, then I believe they should seek professional help from an environmental expert. In fact, I actually believe that there should be environmental advisors/consultants available for this specific task, as part of any work team of any chain of any kind.