Eberswalde Refillable!

Our returnable cup deposit system

©HNEE

The environmental problem of coffee-to-go cups

According to calculations by Deutsche Umwelthilfe, around 2.8 billion "coffee-to-go cups" are consumed throughout Germany every year. This involves an enormous consumption of resources for a product that is only used for about 15 minutes and then becomes waste. The production of disposable cups requires 1.5 billion liters of water, 320 million kilowatt hours of electricity, 64,000 tons of wood and 22,000 tons of crude oil every year. This results in 28,000 tons of CO2 emissions[1].

What is the project about?

In Eberswalde, too, many disposable cups are used and thrown away every day. Refillable Eberswalde! is about a reusable cup deposit system that curbs the flood of disposable cups and at the same time raises awareness for the problems that arise. Refillable Eberswalde! started as a pilot project at our university with our cooperation partner Hebewerk e.V. and the practical partners Studentenwerk Frankfurt/Oder, bakery Wiese and Globus Naturkost. Since 2020, the project has been continued and further developed by Kreiswerke Barnim to develop an even wider reach.

So far, some results are already positive:

•  The use of disposable coffee cups and the resulting enormous consumption of resources are decreasing[2].
• The students as a target group are sensitized to the environmental problem, thus acting as multipliers in society.
• The practice partners recognize the practicality of the reusable cup pool system and continue to participate in the system after the pilot phase with their own investments.
• So far, around 2500 returnable cups have been put into circulation.
• Expansion of the project to include other partners

And this is how it works:

Who is already participating?