NO MORE SINGLE-USE CUPS AT FOLKEMØDET

Jun 7, 2022

At Folkemødet 2022, coffee, beer and wine will be served in washable, reusable cups – for the benefit of the climate. In collaboration with a number of actors, Folkemødet introduces a return and reuse system for all cups at Folkemødet’s bars. The profit goes to Red Cross’ work for the climate and the world’s vulnerable people.

At Folkemødet, citizens and decision-makers meet to debate our common society in more than 2,500 events over four days in Allinge. This dialogue can take place over a cup of coffee or a cold beer. If you participate in Denmark’s largest democracy festival, this year you will experience that coffee, beer and wine are served in washable returnable cups. So instead of throwing out single-use plastic cups, you can now recycle the cups – and in this way, help strengthen sustainability.

Foreningen Folkemødet, which is the organization behind Folkemødet, welcomes the effort and looks forward to a Folkemøde where recycling is paramount. Partnership Manager, Christian Bülow Beck says:

”At Folkemødet we would like to contribute to sustainable development, and here the use of washable cups is a step in the right direction.  The circular society of the future requires that we all change behavior and rethink solutions. Therefore, it is also a project that will unfold over the coming years, where everyone will get more and more used to recycling or resources to a greater extent – also when you participate in a festival. We are delighted to be a part of this.”

 

Cross-cutting collaboration

The effort is made in a large collaboration between several actors at Folkemødet. New Loop brings cups for the coffee 7-Eleven and Peter Larsen Kaffe will be serving at Folkemødet. If you take a DAT flight to or from Bornholm, the coffee on board is also served in the reusable return cups.

In Folkemødet’s bars and tents, Tuborg’s beer, Vinhanen’s wine and Bluetail’s cocktails are served in washable cups and with the help of the local waste company, BOFA, all cups are collected for recycling at the festival.

Gitte Saaby Kjær, COO and co-founder, of New Loop elaborates on their vision for the circular consumption of the future:

“All of our resources have a value, both our to-go cups, pizza boxes, salad bowls, etc. It is a culture change that we are now about to deposit our take away packaging and especially that is why we are pleased with this collaboration, which will have a major impact on waste reduction and at the same time spread the message to the Danes.”


For the benefit of Red Cross
If you buy beer, wine, cocktails, or a cup of coffee at Folkemødet, you pay DKK 5 for the cup itself. Part of this price goes to collecting, handling and washing the reusable cups. And for every cup collected and recycled, the proceeds are donated to Red Cross and their work for the climate and the world’s vulnerable people.

 

Anders Ladekarl, executive secretary of Red Cross is pleased with the sustainable efforts and support for their important work:

“The partnership is a great opportunity to create more value for both people and climate, which we are extremely happy to be a part of. If you reuse your cup at Folkemødet, you are, among other things, helping the most vulnerable people in the world, as climate change is hitting particularly hard,” he says.

Folkemødet 2022 will be held on 16-19 June in Allinge on Bornholm.

 

The parties behind the cooperation:

  • Foreningen Folkemødet
    The organization behind Folkemødet, which develops and organizes the democracy festival. Since 2017, Foreningen Folkemødet has been responsible for the organisation of Denmark’s largest democracy festival. 

  • New Loop
    New Loop is an impact startup that develops the circular deposit system of the future for take away packaging, The vision is to make it easy and accessible for Danes to pawn their take away packaging. The packaging is washed food approved and recycled again. When the packaging can no longer be recycled, it will eventually be recycled into new packaging. The New Loop cup only needs to be used twice before it is better than a cardboard cup in the environmental accounts.  
  • 7-Eleven
    At 7-Eleven, we are immensely proud to be part of Folkemødet and to be allowed to contribute to the sustainable agenda and the democratic debate. We work systematically to improve, reduce our environmental footprint, optimize our products, reduce waste, promote recycling and care for the animals that are part of our production. We have a goal to make our packaging more sustainable, and have currently chosen to use 100% FSC paper and recycled plastic in plastic-containing packaging and only use plant-based coffee cups with fiber lids. In addition, you always have the opportunity to use your own cup if you wish. In the long term, however, we have ambitions to phase out single-use packaging completely, and here partners such as New Loop are indispensable in relation to the new packaging. to find solutions that are also attractive to consumers. 
  • Peter Larsen Kaffe
    Peter Larsen Kaffe has 120 years of experience in making coffee, but now they have embarked on an ambitious mission. They will be 100% circular and generate zero waste by 2030.
    To achieve that goal, community and collaboration are paramount. That’s why they’ve created the Circular Coffee Community. An initiative that, across industries and industries, will uncover and exploit the enormous potential of the entire coffee plant. This also means that single-use packaging must of course be a thing of the past in order for the coffee’s value chain to move in a more circular direction. 
  • DAT
    DAT is a Danish airline founded more than 30 years ago. We fly domestically in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany and Italy with over one million passengers annually. In collaboration with New Loop, we have ambitions to fly with zero waste on board. We will be the first airline to use this kind of cup and cup system on board. Working with New Loop and our passengers makes it possible to make a difference. 
  • BOFA
    Bornholm has a green resource vision of a waste-free society by 2032, when BOFA’s incinerator closes and all waste on the island must be thought of and recycled as resources.
    BOFA’s development platform Zero Waste Bornholm aims to gather partners on circular solutions, and since we have also been Folkemødet’s waste collector for all years, this partnership across the entire value chain on reusable packaging is both natural and rewarding for us to be part of. 
  • Red Cross
    Red Cross is the world’s largest humanitarian organization with more than 11 million volunteers in 192 countries who save lives every day and equip people to weather crises and disasters. Red Cross works both with preventing climate disasters, with effective warning systems and with the urgent help to vulnerable populations when the disaster strikes. 

     

  • Danmarks Naturfredningsforening

 

More information:

  • Folkemødet 2022 will be held on 16-19 June in Allinge on Bornholm. Hundreds of organisations, associations, parties and companies participate here, as well as thousands of Danes of all ages. Folkemødet always takes place in week 24.
  • Folkemødet 2022 has 2,500 events taking place all over the festival site – across themes; with climate, environment and energy, health and international politics as the big topics.
  • Washable return cups are served in all Folkemødet’s bars, in 7-Eleven’s pop-up shops, in Peter Larsen’s coffee stalls, on DAT flights to and from Bornholm and in all tents that pour beer and wine at the festival site.
  • Participants pay DKK 5 per cup, of which part of this amount goes to handling and recycling cups. The remaining profits are donated to Red Cross and their work for the climate and the world’s vulnerable. The more cups that are recycled – and thus do not have to be replaced, the more money is donated to Red Cross.
  • Washable, return cups are a more sustainable and circular alternative to single-use plastic cups. The more times a cup is recycled, the lower the carbon footprint it has and the better it is than a disposable cup.
  • In addition to the proceeds from washable, return cups, all collected bottle deposits are also donated to Red Cross.
  • https://thenewloop.dk/folkemodet  

For further comments, please contact:

Foreningen Folkemødet, Communications Manager Pelle Nybirk, +45 2046 2416 / pelle@folkemoedet.dk

New Loop, Project Manager Sys Horn, +45 2097 6001 / sysh@thenewloop.dk