The Danish city of Aarhus has launched a three-year pilot program to reduce the number of single-use coffee cups, giving local residents access to a deposit system for takeaway packages.
Like other Nordic and Central European countries, Denmark already has a deposit system in place that allows customers to get their money back when purchasing plastic bottles and cans.
The project, which focuses on eliminating disposable cup waste, is the result of a collaboration between the City of Aarhus and TOMRA, a recycling company that already provides other waste collection services to the city.
For a year and a half in 2022, All In On Green’s robotic arm SeaProtectorOne will be deployed underwater, collecting more than 100,000 disposable eyeglasses from the city’s namesake river, A. We have demonstrated the enormous levels of plastic pollution. City.
“Aarhus has to become greener and more sustainable. And Aarhus has to be a city that has the courage to try new solutions,” says Nikolaj Van, Aarhus’ technology and environment councilor. he said in a press release. Packaging is becoming more popular in Denmark and consumption is increasing. It is therefore critical that we can make it easier for both consumers and businesses to choose more sustainable alternatives to single-use packaging,” he said.
Aarhus is the second largest city in Denmark with a population of approximately 336,000 people and is a potential user of disposable cups. The initiative is set up as voluntary, but so far 44 cafes and bars in the city center have expressed interest in the project, possibly due to King Frederick X studying at the city’s university. It may also include the cafes and bars you frequented when you were there.
Initially, 40,000 cups will be produced in two designs, and around 25 deposit machines will be installed across the city for citizens to return their cups and receive a portion of their Danish kroner cash back. Geir Sæther, TOMRA’s senior vice president of circular economy, said the company expects to be able to “extend this system to other types of packaging in the near future,” moving from single-use packaging to reusable packaging. He said that the transition would be facilitated.
The fee to return a reused cup is just over $70 cents (DKK 5), but money isn’t the reason citizens start returning their cups. “Recycling saves the earth’s resources and his CO2 emissions.” More recycling means less waste ends up in the trash in our cities and in nature.” he said.
Copenhagen had previously trialled an experimental system where pizza containers, sushi trays and coffee cups could be returned in Kubien’s hip area, making it the first city in Denmark and the world to carry out such an urban experiment. . In the central neighborhood. Danish startup Kleen Hub is currently experimenting with a third-generation return system in the capital, based on a single bank card tap.
“Aarhus is showing the way to another sustainable future, and we hope that more cities will be inspired to do the same,” Tove Andersen, CEO of TOMRA, said in a press release. I hope so.”
Cities and local governments have traditionally acted on consumer behavior to reduce various types of pollution in cities. “These policies are quietly working because local governments are working with their communities to tackle climate change in the long term, along with other issues such as health issues that people care about.”Food and local businesses ” said Olivier de Schutter, co-chair of the sustainable food systems expert team IPES-Food.
In the United States, it is still not possible to return plastic bottles and cans, but there is strong interest in changing the law in this direction.
follow me twitter Or LinkedIn.