This City Pays You If You Return Coffee Cups (And The Project Is A Huge Success)

Aarhus, a Danish city, has launched an innovative project for reduce the use of disposable coffee cupsobtaining surprising results after a year of experimentation. The system, developed in collaboration with TOMRA, a Norwegian company specializing in waste management, offers citizens a economic incentive to return used cups via automatic machines located in the main streets of the city.

The project arose from the analysis of Aarhus waste, which revealed that 45% of city waste came from takeaway packaging. Faced with these data, the municipality decided to act, launching a campaign to promote the use of reusable cups instead of disposable ones.

The initiative initially involved 45 coffee shops, offering customers the opportunity to return their cups in exchange for a refund of five Danish kroner (approximately 70 euro cents). Despite a shaky start, with a mug return rate of around 25%, the situation improved significantly after the annual Aarhus festival.

Collected over 735,000 cups in one year

During the event, all drinks were served in reusable cups, leading to an increase in return rate up to 88%. This result demonstrated that, with the right approach, it is possible to change consumer habits.

In one year, Aarhus raised over 735,000 cupsfar exceeding the initial goal of 500,000. This success made it possible to save around 14 tons of plasticcontributing significantly to waste reduction.

For the future, the municipality aims to double the amount of cups collected, expanding the project to other Danish cities as well and including additional types of food packaging. This model could be adopted in other European cities, contributing to the European Union’s goals of reducing packaging waste. The Aarhus initiative demonstrates that, thanks to citizen participation, it is possible to create a sustainable waste management systemreducing environmental impact and promoting a culture of reuse.