Hope Solutions releases reusable cup factsheet

Hope Solutions along with Zap Concepts, have co-produced the ‘It Doesn’t Stack Up’ factsheet, in order to show the environmental impact created by the use of disposable cups at the UK festival and live event industry.

The factsheet highlights the contrast between the environmental and financial impact of disposable cups, and reusable cups. 

With over 85 million attendees of outdoor events in the UK each year, the amount of wasted plastic cups reaches over 100 million per year, while only 9% of all plastic gets recycled. This un-recycled plastic, coupled with the damaging way in which they are manufactured, creates a hugely detrimental impact on the environment.

“There’s a lot of focus on new and novel ways to recycle or compost products but in reality, most of the environmental impact comes from making a product and then throwing it away”

As Rob Scully, head of operations at Zap Concepts, says: “There’s a lot of focus on new and novel ways to recycle or compost products but in reality, most of the environmental impact comes from making a product and then throwing it away, therefore disposables in their inception are waste before they are even used, no matter what material they are made from.”

The factsheet comes at a time when festivals are starting to become more mindful of the environment, with Boardmasters festival unveiling a reusable cup scheme, and a wide array of festival operators banning plastic straws, drinks stirrers, and cotton buds from the festivals.

The new factsheet shows that switching to reusable cups could save 1,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per 1 million cups, equal to the energy usage of an average British household over 75 years.

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