Over 118,000 REUSEABLE cups sold during Festuge

With approximately 1,000 program elements over ten days,Aarhus Festuge is one of the largest annual cultural festivals in NorthernEurope. This year’s Festuge took place between August 30 and September 8, and introduced a new element: drinks were sold only in REUSEABLE cups at the principal locations of Pustervig, Mølleparken, Klostertorv, Rådhusparken and Ridehuset.

A total of 118,905 REUSEABLE cups were sold during the festival, with an impressive return rate of 93%. According to Kim Gulvad, Headof Urban Life and Citizenship in Aarhus Municipality, if disposable cups had been used they would have filled some 1,200 trash bins.

The transition to reusable cups was positively received by the participating locations, recognizing the potential of shifting from disposable to reusable packaging.

"It went far better than we dared hope. Those unfamiliar with the concept were curious to learn about it. There was much less trash and significantly less cleanup compared to when we usually hold concerts and festivals with plastic cups," says Yasmin Branco, Bar Manager ofAarhus Volume, the organizer of GADEFEST at Klostertorv.

To facilitate the returns of REUSEABLE cups at Festuge, TOMRA placed seven machines in the principal festival locations during the duration of the event, in addition to the permanent machine locations placed elsewhere in Aarhus.