Annually, approximately 50 billion disposable beverage cups are utilized and promptly discarded across the globe, creating litter in public spaces and water bodies.
The aftermath of disposing of these cups is often overlooked. However, their slow decomposition, especially those with plastic linings, can result in the release of microplastics into the environment, posing threats to wildlife and contaminating water sources.
In an attempt to address this crisis, the city of Aarhus in Denmark has implemented a pioneering city-wide initiative for reusable beverage containers. This scheme has prevented thousands of cups from reaching landfills, thus preventing harmful substances from seeping into the soil and air.
Instead of discarding these containers, residents utilize one of the 27 deposit machines located in the second largest city in Denmark to return them for cleaning and redistribution to retailers.
The process is straightforward, where a deposit of around 80 pence is reimbursed directly to the individual’s bank account by swiping their credit card at the machine. Each time a cup, whether for hot beverages with plastic lids or larger containers for cold drinks and beers, is returned to any of the machines across the country, they are cleaned at a specialized facility before being sent back to retailers.
Simon Smedegaard Rossau, the project manager for circular systems in Aarhus, expressed the vision of creating a city devoid of waste bins and emphasized the importance of preventing environmental pollution from microplastics.
Since its inception 18 months ago, over 1.25 million cups have been returned, equivalent to 10,000 overflowing bins or 16 tons of waste. The success of the scheme, boasting an impressive 88% return rate, has garnered interest from other cities, with Lisbon recently adopting a similar reusable container program for beverages.
The initial target for the pilot program in Aarhus was to collect 500,000 cups in its first year, a goal surpassed as 735,000 cups were returned, saving 14 tons of plastic from incineration and reducing CO2 emissions.
Looking ahead to 2025, the aim is to collect 1.5 million cups, with an additional 1.5 million planned for the following year. The municipality in Aarhus is also exploring the expansion of the initiative to include other types of food packaging like takeout salad bowls.
A significant driving factor behind the project was the observation that nearly half of Aarhus’s waste comprises beverage and food packaging. A pivotal moment occurred during the Aarhus Festuge festival, where businesses exclusively used reusable cups, resulting in the recovery of 100,000 cups—an amount sufficient to fill 1,200 trash containers.
Reloop’s Global Networks Director, Jenni Hume, commended the efficacy of systems promoting the reuse of materials to combat the issues associated with single-use items. The city-wide reusable cup program in Denmark has already prevented over a million disposable cups from being discarded in less than two years.
<p class="Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh " data-tmdatatrack="content-unit" data-tmdatatrack-type="
