Are the Red Cups Really Green?

Coffee is easily the most popular beverage on Earth; over 400 billion cups are consumed per year around the world. As someone who contributes to that massive number just about everyday, I'm very aware of how many plastic Starbucks lids are thrown into the landfill as a result of this. Starbucks alone sells 4 billion cups of coffee (not including tea and other drinks) annually. A large portion of these sales are a result of the holiday drinks and kick off of the famous red cups. November 7th marks the start of the holiday drink season, and with the purchase of any holiday drink you also receive a free reusable holiday cup. I myself succumbed to the marketing and convincing argument of my coffee-addicted friend and hurried to Starbucks on the 7th to make it before the last of the reusable cups were gone. While waiting in line I watched the cashier hand each customer an empty reusable cup with each purchase, and thought how ironic it was to give a reusable cup yet put the actual drinks in a single use cup to be thrown away later.
This lead me to the question: is the incentive of the free reusable cup in hopes it is used at the next purchase (for $0.50 off) worth all of the extra cups and plastic that will be sold in the same day? Historically, the only debate over the Starbucks holiday design cups is over whether they are deemed to Christmas-y or if the patterns are stylish enough. However, more attention should be given to the fact that the simple designs on the cup causes a dramatic increase in the number of drinks purchased, leading to the increase in plastic deposited into landfills. In my opinion, the debates should take more of a focus on whether the reusable red cups are worth the extra paper cup purchases.
All things being considered, Starbucks has set goals to become significantly more eco-friendly through reduce, recycle, and reuse-ability by 2022 and has had a focus on sustainability since the beginning of the company according to their website. The famous cups were the first in the United States food sector to be made of 10% post consumer recycled fiber, and have additionally made efforts toward a more recyclable plastic lid. Straws are planning to be completely phased out and replaced with a recyclable plastic lid by 2020, but the benefit of that versus the straw is still disputed.
So the question remains, is the one-day offer of a free reusable cup worth the extra sales and waste produced in exchange? There are countless factors to consider when deciding the answer to this, but regardless there is a significant need to find better methods of reducing material waste, and reusable cups are the best solution to this.