Innovation and sustainability: Our collaboration with the municipality of Amsterdam
Innovation and sustainability: Our collaboration with the municipality of Amsterdam In the dynamic world of innovation and sustainability, collaboration is key to success. Recently, we as an organisation took part in the In Residence programme by the City of Amsterdam, an inspiring acceleration programme where innovative entrepreneurs and the city come together to develop sustainable solutions. To gain a better understanding of our collaboration and its impact, we spoke with the Innovation Project Manager, Mark Stoevelaar. It turned into an engaging conversation in which we gained valuable insights and received generous compliments about our approach. An Acceleration Programme for the Future The In Residence programme is designed to help both the municipality and entrepreneurs move forward. “On the one hand, we try to create acceleration within the municipality by gathering issues and seeking solutions for them.” “On the other hand, we help entrepreneurs test their innovations in practice,” says the Innovation Project Manager. For us, this programme offered a unique opportunity to test our solution during major events such as the Liberation Festival and Pride Amsterdam. Why We Were Selected During the presentation of the solutions, there was much interest from the organisers and the municipality in the Rubbish portal. “How can such a portal be used to make events more sustainable?” It is also interesting to consider how such a portal could further support the municipality. For example, could a monitoring platform also be a suitable tool for sports parks or construction sites? After all, events are a test case for sustainable innovations. “It was a great match to test this during festivals.” The Value of Insights from the Unknown One of the most valuable aspects of our collaboration was the insight we provided into an area that was unfamiliar to many. “There are quite a few smaller events that don’t have much support.” “Your portal can really be a source of information for them,” we were told. The Rubbish Portal helps municipalities with valuable data on waste flows and sustainability measures within events, particularly those events within municipal boundaries that are not organised by the municipality itself. This enables them to make better policies, manage circular initiatives more effectively, and adjust where necessary. By gaining insights into the sustainability of events, municipalities can work towards their sustainability goals more strategically and create better collaboration between organisers, waste processors, and suppliers. A Successful Collaboration Our collaboration was experienced as successful by both parties. “I think we worked really well together. We had structured meetings and kept each other well informed. You operate autonomously and directly contact suppliers, waste processors, and other parties. That’s very nice to see.” Future Vision: Creating Ownership According to Stoevelaar, it is important that municipalities feel responsible for making events more sustainable. The challenge lies in clearly demonstrating why investing in sustainable events is important. However, he believes it is crucial to incorporate sustainability and innovation into your organisation’s decision-making process. The successful projects with the City of Amsterdam have shown that The Rubbish Portal is a valuable tool for making events more sustainable. We look forward to working with the City of Amsterdam and other municipalities to continue building a more sustainable event landscape.
How the CSRD directive affects events
How the CSRD directive affects events Sustainability and transparency are playing an increasingly important role in the business world. The European CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) mandates companies to disclose their environmental and social impact. But there are big changes on the horizon for corporate sustainability reporting in the EU! The European Commission has proposed significant updates to the CSRD and CSDDD requirements, aiming to cut regulatory burdens by 25% while staying aligned with the Green Deal. Although these directives are not yet fully defined, now is a good time to assess what they mean for you. It could happen at any moment that your company is required to comply with the CSRD directives. If it’s not mandated by legislation, it could be customers, partners, or insurers asking for insights. This raises many questions for entrepreneurs. How much work will this entail? What data needs to be collected? And is it possible to gain a strategic advantage from this? More and more companies are investing large sums of money and deploying extra staff to comply with reporting requirements. However, there are clever ways to make this process more efficient and effective. The Impact of CSRD on SMEs The CSRD requires companies to prepare sustainability reports on their environmental impact, social policies, and governance (ESG). Initially, the regulation focuses on large enterprises, but SMEs will also be directly or indirectly affected. A company falls under the CSRD obligation if it has more than 1,000 employees. Even companies that do not directly meet these criteria may come into contact with CSRD indirectly. Clients, investors, customers, or insurers may inquire about their environmental impact. ING estimates that ultimately tens of thousands of companies will be affected. Control Over Sustainability with the Rubbish Portal At Rubbish Reusables, we understand the importance of sustainability, but we also know that the process needs to be as simple as possible. That’s why we developed the Rubbish Portal: a smart tool that helps companies and events track their CO₂ emissions and environmental impact. The Rubbish Portal provides companies with a practical solution for sustainability reporting. It eliminates the need for separate spreadsheets and complex data systems, automating the calculation of environmental impact. Clear dashboards provide instant insight into emissions. For many companies, collecting the right data is the biggest challenge. The Rubbish Portal assists in gathering, analysing, and reporting information without the need for extra staff. This makes sustainability reporting not only easier but also more efficient and strategically valuable. Application in Various Sectors Different sectors can benefit from the Rubbish Portal: Event Industry: Direct insight into CO₂ emissions per event. Logistics: Easy measurement of the environmental impact of transport flows. Manufacturing: Insight into raw material and energy use. Thanks to these insights, sustainability reporting becomes not a burden but a strategic advantage that allows companies to differentiate themselves and operate more efficiently. Do you want to know how we can help your company or event? Contact us and discover the benefits of the Rubbish Portal!
The Untold Truth About Reusable Cups in the Events Industry
The Untold Truth About Reusable Cups in the Events Industry Reuse is a core tenant of the circular economy and much better than recycling, at least in theory. As a result reusable products, like cups, have become a popular solution in the push for sustainability—but they are only effective if they are reused again and again. If not, they can have a higher carbon footprint and generate more waste than the disposable products they were meant to replace. This is because reusable products require significantly more material and thus energy (carbon) to manufacture. The Reuse Problem in Events This challenge is particularly pronounced in the events industry, where many festivals and venues have switched to reusable cups but experience low return rates. As a result, they often end up having a worse environmental impact than if they had stuck with single-use disposables. This is not great news for an industry trying to go green. Certain venues, such as theatres and cinemas, find it easier to maintain high (90%+) return rates for reusable products. However, outdoor events, football stadiums, and concerts struggle to achieve these rates. The issue is compounded by the practice of encouraging branded reusable cups as souvenirs, which leads to high losses and undermines the entire purpose of reuse. Souvenir Cups ARE SINGLE USE! When attendees take cups home as keepsakes, the event must replace them with new ones—effectively turning reusable cups into single-use products with a much higher environmental cost. While attendees might reuse these cups at home, this offers no benefit to the event’s sustainability goals. Also they will already have cups at home, they do not need these, so it has no eco benefit there either. Reusable cup companies have often encouraged this practice to boost their cup sales, but we believe this is highly irresponsible. The industry must redesign business models to align with the true goals of reuse. Why The Low Return Rate? Unfortunately years of single use packaging has influenced behaviour so much so that a lot of people simply do not think twice about littering packaging on the ground. From my perspective this is less a problem of character (‘bad people’) and more a problem of bad disposable packaging and wasteful systems having trained people to act in this way. So events and venues need to use a deposit system to incentivise return and penalise littering of reusables. This carrot and stick approach helps break visitors out of the disposable mindset where packaging is worthless to them and therefore does not get a second thought. But here lies the next problem… Current Deposit Systems Suck Bar operators don’t like them, as they want to sell drinks not handle cup returns, and attendees don’t like them either as they are being charged a fee and its very inconvenient to return the cups. At lots of events its not really a deposit and simply a cup charge/levy as consumers can’t get the money back, they just don’t have to pay any more if they bring their cup back to the bar for their next drink. Alongside not being very fair to shift the cost to the attendee, it also rarely works. If you can only use the cup to avoid a charge on your next drink then you must hold onto your empty cup until you are ready for another drink, which sucks as you’ve got to look after a cup for the entire event. And at the end of the event you have no incentive to return the cup as you aren’t buying any more drinks so everyone drops their last cup. In some cases it is actually a deposit, so you can get money back, but this still has its own problems. To get the cash back you must return to the bar with your empty cup, the same bar people are queuing to buy drinks from… So when you finish your drink you either have to join a queue or hold onto your empty cup until your next drink. Also when anyone can get cash-back for a cup people are incentivised to steal other peoples cups and return them for cash. People like to picture young children collecting the cups to get some money, but at large events you can get organised crime groups becoming the cup mafia to cash in on the large amount of deposit cash.The result? Even with deposit schemes events still get low return rates and reusable cups are left all over the floor creating the same sea of plastic litter they were meant to replace. The result? Even with deposit schemes events still get low return rates and reusable cups are left all over the floor creating the same sea of plastic litter they were meant to replace. The Carbon Footprint of Reusables Reusable cups are often four to seven times heavier than their disposable counterparts, therefore requiring four to seven times as much material and energy to produce. This means a reusable cup must be used at least seven times to break even with a single-use cup in terms of carbon impact—and up to 14 times to offer significant environmental benefits. This target is achievable, but only with well-designed systems that focus on maximising return rates. An 80% return rate, while seemingly high, results in each cup being reused only about five times before it is lost or discarded. To make reuse systems environmentally effective, return rates need to exceed 90%. Committing to the Challenge Despite these hurdles, we know that making reuse work is vital for the circular economy and the future of our planet. At Rubbish Ideas, we are committed to overcoming this challenge through innovation and data-driven solutions. 1. Measuring Reuse with The Rubbish Portal Our platform, The Rubbish Portal, is designed to accurately measure the impact of reusable products and compare it to single-use alternatives. This allows event organisers to see how well their reuse systems are performing and make data-informed improvements. The Rubbish Portal tracks key metrics such
How to improve sustainability and optimize the reusable cup process?
How Can an Organization Improve Sustainability and Optimize the Reusable Cup Process? More and more organizations are switching to reusable cups to reduce waste and promote sustainability. A great step forward, but a major challenge remains: how do you ensure that the cups are not lost in large numbers or taken home? A solid approach starts with clear communication. It is essential that both employees and visitors fully understand how the system works. Employees should be well-informed about the procedures and their role in the system so they can effectively guide and assist visitors. This can be done before the event or workday by providing clear information through training and internal communication channels. Visitors, in turn, can be informed through newsletters, social media, and the website, ensuring they know what is expected of them before they arrive. A smart return process can make a significant difference. Many organizations choose a deposit system where users pay a small fee per hardcup. They receive this deposit back upon return, creating an extra incentive not to throw the hardcup away or take it home. Additionally, return points should be clearly visible and easily accessible. Some businesses and events even reward reuse, such as offering discounts on purchases when a customer brings their own reusable cup. Behavioral change is a crucial factor. People are creatures of habit and may resist change. That’s why it helps to mark return points clearly and place them strategically. Sharing statistics, such as the number of single-use cups saved, can also motivate people to contribute to a more sustainable system. The Rubbish Portal plays an important role in this process by accurately tracking the emissions of events. This provides organizers with a detailed overview of the environmental impact, enabling them to closely monitor and reduce the festival’s ecological footprint. Evaluation and optimization ensure that the reusable cup system continues to improve. By tracking how many hardcups are actually returned and identifying areas for improvement, organizations can learn and make necessary adjustments. User feedback is valuable and can help refine the system for the future. Through a combination of clear communication, an effective return system, and behavioral incentives, organizations can significantly reduce the loss of hardcups. With a well-thought-out reusable cup system, sustainability becomes not just a goal, but an achievable reality.
