Festivals and plastic cups

Every year 700 festivals are organized in the Netherlands, which together attract over 21 million visitors. Unfortunately, it causes also a huge amount of waste. On average, 2.33 kilograms of waste per person remains on the festival site. Hundreds of millions of disposable plastic cups are used at festivals, 99% of which are not recycled.

The sound of crackling plastic cups under your feet is nowadays considered normal at festivals. Afterwards, mountains of plastic bottles, cups and crockery will remain. Now, a lot is being tried to organize festivals more sustainably. For example, an attempt is made to reduce waste and to recycle it better afterwards.

“Zwarte Cross” goes for a logo-free RPET cup
Our new RPET cups are like karma: it haunts you! Perhaps you will have it in your hand again at the Zwarte Cross next year, but then the new, recycled version. Our logo less RPET cups are collected and processed into, among other things, new cups. All our beverage partners cooperate with this and abandon the use of the logo, because cups with ink cannot be recycled into new cups.”In addition, this cup must be thrown in the right bin and not on the ground for proper recycling.

Festival ‘Zwarte Cross’ and other festivals such as Lowlands, Awakenings,   ‘Vierdaagsefeesten’, Mysteryland and Loveland have joined the “Plastic Promise” to promote reuse together and recycle plastic cups with high quality.

Without plastic?
But also a festival without plastic bottles and cups is possible!

Some festivals, such as Glastonbury, are banning plastic bottles and cups altogether. Visitors are not refused if they bring plastic bottles, but they are strongly advised to bring a reusable drinking bottle! Many festivals also come with a middle ground where disposable plastic is replaced by hard cups with a deposit system.

Despite these measures, a lot of waste still ends up on the festival grounds. That is not surprising, because a festival is simply a place to escape from everyday life. That is why it is important to make people aware of the waste around them and what they can do about it. A clean and tidy festival site provides a much nicer atmosphere for everyone!

Meer informatie over:
Zwarte Cross en logoloze RPET-beker
Campagne Plastic Promise ‘Never Give Up On Your Cup‘.