Good results cup system: 58% was fully recycled!

Posted: 09 February 2023, 14:01 hour

We are extremely proud of this first result of 58%. A great compliment to all visitors and all entrepreneurs who have embraced the system, thank you! This represents a huge step forward in reducing our waste. After this first success, we hope for everyone’s cooperation to get the percentage of recycled cups even higher next year.

Never has a recycling system for soft cup cups been introduced on such a large scale. All our 46 venues and 124 terraces participated in the same system, where visitors paid 50 cents extra on their first drink and could then exchange the used cup for a new one on their next order.

The results

Collectively, 21,760 kilos of used plastic cups were collected separately behind the bar, which is 7 trucks full. The cups were processed into new raw material at the factory. From these granules, another 2.4 million new cups can be made.

In addition, about 15,000 kilos of plastic were extracted from residual and sweeping waste, about 40 per cent of the total. Through this post-separation, several more types of plastic and cans were filtered out, from which cups cannot be made again, but which can be processed into other applications, such as plastic buckets, for example.

That remaining two per cent? Those people probably took home or ended up in bins on their way home outside the permit area.

Placeholder for Infographic bekersysteem

Audience reactions

Although there were varying reactions beforehand, compliments were already raining after the first day of the Four Day Festivities. People greatly appreciated that the city was so much cleaner. Inner city residents also experienced less noise pollution, as the creaking noise of walking over piles of plastic had been greatly reduced. An independent visitor monitors among almost 600 partygoers showed that 81% of visitors were satisfied with the new cup system. 72% of visitors said they thought 50 cents was an excellent amount for the cup.

The future

The 4Daagse also participated in the system last summer at start and finish site De Wedren and military camp Heumensoord. Both the Vierdaagsefeesten and De 4Daagse will continue with this system next year and continue to act jointly in this regard. It is also expected that visitors and bar staff will find it even easier next year because they are more familiar with the system.

According to laws and regulations, the percentage of fully recycled cups should reach 75% by 2024, after which it should increase by 5% each year. So, there is still some way to go to increase the percentage from 58. City entrepreneurs, 90% of whom are positive about introducing a shared cup system according to our survey, see plenty of areas for improvement for implementation, as do we ourselves. With additional separate collection at toilets and after the event at plaza exits, we hope to make it even easier for visitors next year. The argument that we are big, public, and complex is no reason for us not to work on sustainability. Last summer proved that the public really wants to participate in this. With their help and with all the experience of the past year, it should work in the future!