Reused Cups By Anna Young

When researching eco friendliness in Sport, I came across a scheme set up by the Big Eye stadium at Oita Prefecture Sports Park, Japan. At the Big Eye, which is used by about one million people each year, nearly three tons of rubbish was produced each game. The majority of this rubbish was in the form of paper cups. However this has changed since due to the ‘reusable cups system’. This is a system in which people wishing to purchase a drink pay for their drink with a deposit for their cup and when returning with their cup, receive both a discount on their next drink and regain their deposit.

 

Continuing to read this article on the Japan Times I realised that it was not only the Big Eye that had introduced this system but in fact the inspiration for the Japanese company officials had come from Germany who have had the system in place since the 1990’s and have seen its effect because of the reported 60 percent decline in their rubbish after games.

 

Wembley stadium however, has a slightly different approach to reusing cups. In conjunction with save-a-cup, Wembley has set up their own system. Rather than reusing the cup simply as a cup this stadium recycles the plastic in order to make different items such as    pens, key rings and rulers as told in the Telegraph’s article. Even if you don’t visit massive sporting events you can still reduce your use of paper cups by purchasing I’m Not a Paper Cup- a ceramic thermal mug with a lid which will help to reduce your carbon footprint while looking like a polystyrene cup.

 

All I can say is I hope these systems continue throughout the World and that people will begin to use this system for more than just cups.