Last year, I saved a link to a news article I found interesting and planned to write about the topic, but in the end, never did. Lucky me, there are so many topics to write about, that this one was left in my draft folder, till today. As I was cleaning my drafts, it popped up and I thought let's talk about it, let's see what's the situation in your country in this regard.
Photo by Ravin Rau on Unsplash
People are paid to return coffee cups in this Danish city - does it work?, this was the article I was referring to, brought by Euronews. I'm a huge fan of recycling, reusing, repurposing and whatever R you can come up with, so I find it interesting and useful in the same time.
More than 700,000 cups were returned here last year. Could deposit machines be coming to more of Europe’s streets?
I slide the thick white plastic cup with its blue lid into the hole, and continue to follow the instructions written on the deposit machine. Placing my credit card on the designated card area, a tingle tells me that in a few moments, five Danish crowns (around 70 euro cents) will be returned to my bank account.
Showing The Way
This project was launched in January 2024, by the Danish city of Aarhus, a trial programme of three years, and the reason is the obvious one, to curb the number of disposable coffee cups.
"Through waste analysis, we discovered that 45 per cent of waste in Aarhus came from takeaway packaging,” says Simon Smedegaard Rossau, project manager for circular packaging at Aarhus Municipality. “This finding was a turning point."
Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash
You can't judge the efficiency of any authority by a single action, but recognizing where the most of the waste comes from and doing something about it worth my vote I'd say.
The pilot programme set out to collect 500,000 cups in its first year, a target that was far exceeded as cups were returned 735,000 times, saving 14 tonnes of plastic from incineration and CO2 emissions.
This says it all, no need for more explanation. The programme was a success and a model to follow as well, for whoever is interested in making a step towards stopping waste and recycling packages.
Voluntarily, When You Have No Choice
The article mentions my country as well. This time we're among the good actors, which is surprising as we usually make the top of the list for all the wrong reasons. It was two years ago I think, I mean 2024, when my country introduced the DRS (SGR) system, not because they thought it's a good thing to do, but because they were forced by the European Union and there was no time to waste.
Over the almost two years, I've seen Romania mentioned as having the newest collecting system by several foreign articles, and this was only possible because when the decision was made, there was no collecting system at all, so they chose to implement a good one. As I said, we're always the last to do something and only if it's a must, and this system falls in that category.
Now that the system is working, and working well, it would be time for the next step, which would be the collection of any kind of glass, plastic and to reduce the use of single-use takeaway packaging, which currently is a huge problem.
Photo by quokkabottles on Unsplash
Human Behavior, When There's An Incentive
Usually I only have a few bottles to return, as unfortunately the majority of the packaging I don't need is not recycled, but whenever I return the few pieces I have, there are people in front of me, with huge bags full of plastic and glass bottles and cans. They are the kind of people you can't resist a minute next to, as the smell is killing you and it's obvious they are collecting these from the trash. It's an income for them, which would not be a problem, but when you see them spending on alcohol and tobacco, none of them cheap, it shows you what their living situation is.
As far as I can tell, people are happy with the programme and you don't see bottles thrown left and right anymore and it's sad to know such a measure was needed, to make change people's behavior.
Life is changing with a breakneck speed, we often eat on the go and order in due to various reasons, which increases the use of packaging. To avoid for the country to become a dumping site of harmful waste, a collective effort is needed and can only be successful if both businesses and consumers are participating. It's painful to see people dumping garbage where they shouldn't, then voicing their dissatisfaction about municipality keeping the environment clean.
We had 36 years to grow up, but we're still light years away from where we need to be. 2050 is the deadline given by the EU to recycle 100% of the waste produced and I bet my country is going to make the top of the list for the wrong reason again.
What's the situation in your country? Let' me know in a comment.
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