Reusable Cups in Action

Reusable cups are on the rise at events, festivals, and concerts. Keep reading for examples of how some venues have eliminated single-use cups.

Welford Road Stadium - Leicester Tigers Rugby Club

In partnership with Stack-Cup, the Welford Road Stadium debuted reusable cups for the Leicester Tigers rugby club's 2019 season. Fans pay a £1 deposit on the first cup they buy and they receive a new, clean cup with each drink when they return their original cup. At the end of the match, fans can choose to keep the cup as a souvenir or return the cup at one of the many return points where their deposit is refunded. 

The club designed a series of exclusive Leicester Tigers branded cups. This initiative will help the rugby club avoid up to 18,000 pieces of single-use plastic per game.

The Oval - Surrey County Cricket Club

The Oval is attempting to be the first stadium of its kind to ban all single-use plastic. As part of this initiative, they provide 14 free water fountains around the grounds which discourage the sale of bottled water. Additionally, they implemented a reusable glassware deposit system in the 2018 season. For a £1 deposit, fans receive a glass cup for their beverage. Customers can choose to keep the glass or return the glass to receive their deposit back. Unclaimed deposits are donated to charities. A £5 deposit is charged for bottled wine. 

The Sydney Showgrounds - X Games

With partner Globelet, the Sydney Showgrounds sponsored 44,000 cups for the 3 day X Games. Customers were charged $2 for a cup and were given a $1 refund if the customer chose to return them. The stadium replaced approximately 70,000 single use cups and saved in waste management costs.

U2 Tour

The band U2 has embraced the r.Cup at their tours to tackle the single-use plastics issue. Attendees are charged a $3 deposit for a cup with the option to return it for a full refund of their deposit. After the shows, r.Cups are collected, washed, sterilized, and brought to the next stop on the band's tour. U2 hopes to accomplish zero waste from single-use plastic cups during all of their concerts.

Tour de France

The Tour de France has partnered with Ecoverre to reduce their waste from single-use cups.

Northern California - Cafes

Starbucks and McDonalds have backed a pilot program for reusable cups that began in February 2020 in select Palo Alto coffee shops. With partner CupClub, reusable cups will be deployed and collected at collection sites throughout the city. The cups will have QR codes or RFID chips that allow the companies to monitor where people are not returning cups, how often cups are reused, and other helpful data to improve the program.

In San Francisco, Muuse cups are similarly being used in cafes. They use QR codes and require customers to drop off their cup at participating cafes whereas the CupClub pilot offers bright yellow drop off points scattered throughout the city.

Stokkoya Festival

The Stokkoya Festival in Norway ordered 1,500 Enviro-Cups for their event and found the program to be successful as the cups were easy to clean and reuse. Of the 1,500 sold, only 400 were left after the festival as the rest were taken by attendees as souvenirs.

Boulder, CO & Berkley, CA

These two cities have piloted the use of Vessel cups in cafes throughout their cities. The cups are free for customers and are the equivalent cost of a disposable cup for businesses. Customers can take the cup with them and return it at a participating cafe or return kiosk at their convenience. While there is no charge for the use of the cup, customers are charged if they lose the cup or keep it for longer than 5 days, which encourages participation and reuse of the cups. Customers can check their environmental impact through the Vessel app and see how many disposable cups they have avoided using.