This German city will rent out reusable cups to private parties in the whole country

The service will be handled by the Konstanz waste management department

The City of Konstanz is trying something new. The waste management service of this southern German municipality, located on the lake of the same name, will begin offering reusable tableware, cups and cutlery to private parties and clubs in a serious bid to promote a more responsible festivities based around the concept of waste reduction.

More specifically, the service will be offered by the Konstanz Waste Management Company (EBK) and the great thing is that this company will lead the pilot project across the entire nation.

In essence, the initiative seeks to expand the dimensions of the Recup programme, which already exists in Germany and provides reusable tableware for state and municipal events. Private clubs and people organizing parties and events have also shown interest in being able to sign up for it but the problem is that Recup only works by signing long-term contracts with entities that regularly organize events, such as municipalities. Thus, it’s not suitable for one-off parties.

Pioneering service in all of Germany

This is where the Konstanz Waste Management Company decided to step in by signing a collaborative contract with Recup and then in turn making one-off renting of reusable cups and cutlery a possibility for everyone who is sustainability-minded.

A small contribution to the costs will be charged for the effort - for a weekend, for example, 60 euros. Afterwards, EBK will only charge the deposit for the cups that were not returned at the event.

The condition for lending is that the borrowing person, club or initiative is not a commercial catering business – that is, it has no possibility of entering into a cooperation with Recup itself. In addition, the organizer undertakes to charge the standard deposit of 1 euro per cup.